In this seventh posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/why-sacrifice-is-vital-in-a-common-life-in-philippians-212-18/">Why Sacrifice is Vital in a Common Life in Philippians 2:12-18</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this seventh posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.







<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg"><img width="500" height="334" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27057"/></a></figure></div>



In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/philippians-and-1-2-thessalonians?variant=39991840473224">Philippians and 1 &amp; 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.</a>



For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201&amp;version=NIV">Philippians</a>. For this week, here is the seventh study, A Common Life of Sacrifice | <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A+12-18&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2: 12-18</a>







<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed— not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. </blockquote>







Paul’s big idea for the Philippians, intoxicated as some were with Rome’s status-climbing way of life, was living a common life with one another shaped by the other-serving humility of Christ himself. That’s a big idea, a bit abstract at times, and they may have wondered if it had legs. He’s about to give them some legs so they walk straight toward the kingdom of God: they can respond to God’s work, and they can cling to God’s word.







Responding to God’s Work







The core expression in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A12%E2%80%9313&amp;version=NIV">2:12–13</a> is “work out your salvation,” with the NIV adding “continue to” because the verb has both a vivid sense as well as an intense engagement by each person in the assembly. “Work out” indicates human responsibility but that word “salvation” tends to trip up many readers. Cohick knows for many the wording here “registers a 9.0 on the theological Richter scale.” 



Indeed, gluing the word “work” to “salvation” provokes a raised eyebrow or two for any Christian steeped in justification by faith (not works). Lower the eyebrow because what Paul means is this: Saved people live saved lives. In this context, a saved life is a Christoform-based unity with one another. That’s what a saved life looks like because salvation is holistic: heart, mind, soul, body, personal and group.



<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A12%E2%80%9313&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:12–13</a> works just as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1-4&amp;version=NIV">2:1–4</a> worked: since they are saved they are to live like the saved.



One can be tripped as well by the rather gloomy “with fear and trembling” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A12&amp;version=NIV">2:12</a>). Bible readers may well recall this expression echoing what God’s people experienced in God’s presence (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+15%3A16&amp;version=NIV">Exodus 15:16</a>). But “fear and trembling” evokes not terror but an all-consuming reverence and awe and humility in the face of God’s majesty and glory. 



Saved people put a saved life into effect in humility before a mighty God. Yet, let’s not get too comfortable. God’s sheer presence overwhelms us, prompting our sense of finitude and gratitude to be in God’s presence.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-medium is-resized"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Philippians-2-13.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Philippians-2-13-300x251.png" alt="" class="wp-image-72265" width="433" height="362" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Philippians-2-13-300x251.png 300w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Philippians-2-13-768x644.png 768w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Philippians-2-13.png 940w" sizes="(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px" /></a></figure></div>



Our responsibility before God is just that: response- ability. 



We respond to God’s saving work in us because it is God’s work in us to which we respond. Paul is not giving a 1st Century version of a “God helps those who help themselves.” He’s got a different mind, saying instead “for it is God”–not you, not me –”who works [or energizes] in you to will and to act” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A13&amp;version=NIV">2:13</a>). 



God’s energy in us promotes desire “to fulfill his good purpose.” I prefer a translation of “good pleasure” or even “delight” over “purpose.” Think of the Father’s delight in the Son at the baptism of Jesus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+3%3A17&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 3:17</a>). Think, then, not so much of God’s working in us to accomplish something but of the Father working in us for God’s delight in us and, by extension, our sheer pleasure of knowing and loving God. 



God works in us so we will find life’s deepest joy and pleasure in God.







Clinging to God’s Word



You can count on one hand the number of churches in the history of the church who have not had some “grumbling or arguing” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A14&amp;version=NIV">2:14</a>) and the devastating impact of gossip and slander. Cohick says, “How tempting to tear another down . . . How subtly delicious to nibble on another’s good reputation and eat away at it; we feel our own self nourished.” She continues, “Yet in fact we are ingesting poison.”



Like “fear and trembling,” the term “grumbling” echoes the children of Israel in their march from Egypt to the promised land (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+20%3A2%E2%80%935&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 20:2–5</a>). Notice what can happen though: if we avoid a grumbling posture toward unfulfilled (and sometimes mistaken) expectations we are taking steps toward “blameless and pure.” 



Paul quotes <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+32%3A5&amp;version=NIV">Deuteronomy 32:5</a> from that amazing Song of Moses, a song rehearsing God’s steady faithfulness in the face of Israel’s clunky faithfulness. But to those words of Moses, Paul inserts into Moses’ negative words “without fault.” Not only would they be without fault but they “will shine . . . like the stars” while they are surrounded in Philippi with a “warped and crooked generation” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A15&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:15</a>). 



Paul has taken the words of Moses and made them fit his con- text because he wants them to “shine” with the light of the gospel, a shining that is both in word and deed. His words echo Jesus’ own words (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A14%E2%80%9316&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 5:14–16</a>).



Great ideas, but surely we may be asking how we can do this.



We can discover a without-fault and shining-like-stars faithfulness if we “hold firmly” or cling to “the word of life” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A16&amp;version=NIV">2:16</a>). We should not reduce the “word of life” to the Bible no matter how important the Bible is to us. Rather, this is Life itself’s word, that is, the gospel about Jesus Christ. 



Jesus is both the Life himself and the one who gives life, and the life he gives works in us to form a life-fitting salvation. We can learn daily to cling to Jesus.



Paul has some personally invested goals. If they cling to Jesus as the word of Life itself, Paul will be able to stand proud “on the day of Christ,” that is, the second coming (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A16&amp;version=NIV">2:16</a>). He suddenly flips a switch to anticipate that he may not live that long by saying “even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A17&amp;version=NIV">2:17</a>). The imagery is that drink offerings were poured out on the sacrifice at the altar, and here the Philippians are the sacrifice and Paul is the drink offering, which suggests Paul realizes he just may become a martyr for the faith. No matter for Paul: “I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”



We can tie Paul’s mixing of imagery together now. Christlikeness and salvation and sacrificial service are each one image of how the Philippians are to live a common life marked by humble other-centeredness, the very paradigm of God’s own life embodied in Jesus Christ.







Questions for Reflection and Application



<ol type="1"><li>How does the phrase “saved people live saved lives” help nuance the idea of “work out your salvation”?</li></ol>



<ul><li>What is Paul’s view of sacrifice? How does he himself expect to be a sacrifice?</li></ul>



<ul><li>How does Paul alter Moses’ words to fit Paul’s context?</li></ul>



<ul><li>What does a “saved life” look like for you?</li></ul>



<ul><li>If God works in us to accomplish God’s delight in us, how does that impact your view of your interactions with God? In what ways do you find pleasure and delight in God, and how do you experience God’s delight in you?</li></ul>







The <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/why-sacrifice-is-vital-in-a-common-life-in-philippians-212-18/">Why Sacrifice is Vital in a Common Life in Philippians 2:12-18</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this seventh posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.





In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.
For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the seventh study, A Common Life of Sacrifice | Philippians 2: 12-18





12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed— not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. 





Paul’s big idea for the Philippians, intoxicated as some were with Rome’s status-climbing way of life, was living a common life with one another shaped by the other-serving humility of Christ himself. That’s a big idea, a bit abstract at times, and they may have wondered if it had legs. He’s about to give them some legs so they walk straight toward the kingdom of God: they can respond to God’s work, and they can cling to God’s word.




Responding to God’s Work




The core expression in 2:12–13 is “work out your salvation,” with the NIV adding “continue to” because the verb has both a vivid sense as well as an intense engagement by each person in the assembly. “Work out” indicates human responsibility but that word “salvation” tends to trip up many readers. Cohick knows for many the wording here “registers a 9.0 on the theological Richter scale.” 
Indeed, gluing the word “work” to “salvation” provokes a raised eyebrow or two for any Christian steeped in justification by faith (not works). Lower the eyebrow because what Paul means is this: Saved people live saved lives. In this context, a saved life is a Christoform-based unity with one another. That’s what a saved life looks like because salvation is holistic: heart, mind, soul, body, personal and group.
Philippians 2:12–13 works just as 2:1–4 worked: since they are saved they are to live like the saved.
One can be tripped as well by the rather gloomy “with fear and trembling” (2:12). Bible readers may well recall this expression echoing what God’s people experienced in God’s presence (Exodus 15:16). But “fear and trembling” evokes not terror but an all-consuming reverence and awe and humility in the face of God’s majesty and glory. 
Saved people put a saved life into effect in humility before a mighty God. Yet, let’s not get too comfortable. God’s sheer presence overwhelms us, prompting our sense of finitude and gratitude to be in God’s presence.

Our responsibility before God is just that: response- ability. 
We respond to God’s saving work in us because it is God’s work in us to which we respond. Paul is not giving a 1st Century version of a “God helps those who help themselves.” He’s got a different mind, saying instead “for it is God”–not you, not me –”who works [or energizes] in you to will and to act” (2:13). 
God’s energy in us promotes desire “to fulfill his good purpose.” I prefer a translation of “good pleasure” or even “delight” over “purpose.” Think of the Father’s delight in the Son at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17). Think, then, not so much of God’s working in us to accomplish something but of the Father working in us for God’s delight in us and, by extension, our sheer pleasure of knowing and loving God. 
God works in us so we will find life’s deepest joy and pleasure in God.




Clinging to God’s Word
You can count on one hand the number of churches in the history of the church who have not had some “grumbling or arguing” (2:14) and the devastating impact of gossip and slander. Cohick says, “How tempting to tear another down . . . How subtly delicious to nibble on another’s good reputation and eat away at it; we feel our own self nourished.” She continues, “Yet in fact we are ingesting poison.”
Like “fear and trembling,” the term “grumbling” echoes the children of Israel in their march from Egypt to the promised land (Numbers 20:2–5). Notice what can happen though: if we avoid a grumbling posture toward unfulfilled (and sometimes mistaken) expectations we are taking steps toward “blameless and pure.” 
Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:5 from that amazing Song of Moses, a song rehearsing God’s steady faithfulness in the face of Israel’s clunky faithfulness. But to those words of Moses, Paul inserts into Moses’ negative words “without fault.” Not only would they be without fault but they “will shine . . . like the stars” while they are surrounded in Philippi with a “warped and crooked generation” (Philippians 2:15). 
Paul has taken the words of Moses and made them fit his con- text because he wants them to “shine” with the light of the gospel, a shining that is both in word and deed. His words echo Jesus’ own words (Matthew 5:14–16).
Great ideas, but surely we may be asking how we can do this.
We can discover a without-fault and shining-like-stars faithfulness if we “hold firmly” or cling to “the word of life” (2:16). We should not reduce the “word of life” to the Bible no matter how important the Bible is to us. Rather, this is Life itself’s word, that is, the gospel about Jesus Christ. 
Jesus is both the Life himself and the one who gives life, and the life he gives works in us to form a life-fitting salvation. We can learn daily to cling to Jesus.
Paul has some personally invested goals. If they cling to Jesus as the word of Life itself, Paul will be able to stand proud “on the day of Christ,” that is, the second coming (2:16). He suddenly flips a switch to anticipate that he may not live that long by saying “even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice” (2:17). The imagery is that drink offerings were poured out on the sacrifice at the altar, and here the Philippians are the sacrifice and Paul is the drink offering, which suggests Paul realizes he just may become a martyr for the faith. No matter for Paul: “I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”
We can tie Paul’s mixing of imagery together now. Christlikeness and salvation and sacrificial service are each one image of how the Philippians are to live a common life marked by humble other-centeredness, the very paradigm of God’s own life embodied in Jesus Christ.




Questions for Reflection and Application
How does the phrase “saved people live saved lives” help nuance the idea of “work out your salvation”?





What is Paul’s view of sacrifice? How does he himself expect to be a sacrifice?





How does Paul alter Moses’ words to fit Paul’s context?





What does a “saved life” look like for you?





If God works in us to accomplish God’s delight in us, how does that impact your view of your interactions with God? In what ways do you find pleasure and delight in God, and how do you experience God’s delight in you?





The New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Why Sacrifice is Vital in a Common Life in Philippians 2:12-18 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

In this seventh posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. […]
The post Why Sacrifice is Vital in a Common Life in Philippians 2:12-18 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Why Sacrifice is Vital in a Common Life in Philippians 2:12-18

By Curtis Chang You’ve heard it. The most commonly cited verse about anxiety is Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Dr. Dan Allender, professor of counseling psychology at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, cautions the use [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/what-does-philippians-say-about-anxiety/">What Does Philippians Say about Anxiety?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-72293" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Curtis-Chang_Portrait2.png" alt="Curtis Chang: The most commonly cited verse about anxiety is Philippians 4:6. But Philippians 3 provides the foundation for what this verse means." width="33%" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Curtis-Chang_Portrait2.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Curtis-Chang_Portrait2-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Curtis-Chang_Portrait2-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" />By Curtis Chang
You’ve heard it.
The most commonly cited verse about anxiety is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a>: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Dr. Dan Allender, professor of counseling psychology at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, cautions the use of this verse in addressing anxiety. He says <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> can often be used by those who aren’t experiencing anxiety as a means of “‘clobbering’ those who are anxious.” Dr. Allender warns against “the idea of hearing Philippians 4 and assuming ‘my anxiety goes away.’”

I happen to like <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a>, but I also don’t like how it is used as a “clobber verse” to make anxious people feel like they’re doing something wrong or, even worse, that there is something wrong about them. As with most clobber verses, in this situation it is being used out of context.
<h2>The Theological Framework</h2>
To understand the verses in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4</a>, you have to grasp the teachings of the previous chapter, which presents the theological core of the entire letter. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3</a> sets the overall context for Paul’s words in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4:6</a> about anxiety and, in fact, establishes a key framework for how Christians should understand all aspects of their life.
The framework of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3</a> is that Christians live as “Now and Not Yet” people. This is sadly undertaught in Christian circles, which is why anxiety is so often misunderstood and why many clobber verses are misused.
What is a “Now and Not Yet” person? This person is summarized by <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A21&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3:21 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3:21</a>, which declares that “our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the body of Christ’s glory.” The Now and Not Yet life is defined by the life goal of becoming like Jesus. This is the amazing promise of the gospel: God is at work to transform every bit of ourselves to conform to Jesus, the one who will give us his “glory.”
Glory is the biblical term describing the amazingly good way of life when we fully reflect God’s intentions for us. Jesus obtained his glory because he fully reflected God’s intentions in his life. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A21&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3:21 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3:21</a> promises that as we become like Jesus, we will share in that same “glory.”
However, the same verse assumes that this glorious destiny requires an understanding of spiritual growth that allows for the struggles of our current “lowly bodies.” Note that lowly in Paul’s usage here means “incomplete” (it does not mean “sinful”). He is emphasizing that the full completion of our transformation awaits the future, the Not Yet when Jesus returns (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A10&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3:10 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3:10</a>).
In the Now, we will still struggle with experiences like complex physical and neurological misfirings. My current “lowly body” will still fall quite short of “glory.” Nevertheless, the Now and Not Yet are organically connected. This is what it means that our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the body of Christ’s glory. Our Not Yet body of glory grows out of our Now body of struggle.
Paul isn’t making up this Now and Not Yet dynamic. He gets it straight from Jesus. Jesus often used agricultural metaphors to convey this dynamic of spiritual growth. His favorite metaphor was to point to how a seed of some plant is growing in the present Now and still is on its way to becoming its fully completed self in the future Not Yet (see, for example, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A3-8%2C+19%E2%80%9323&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Matthew 13:3-8, 19-23 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Matthew 13:3–8, 19–23</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4%3A3%E2%80%939%2C+14%E2%80%9332&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Mark 4:3-9, 14-32 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mark 4:3–9, 14–32</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+8%3A4%E2%80%938%2C+11%E2%80%9315&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Luke 8:4-8, 11-15 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Luke 8:4–8, 11–15</a>; and more).
Because this is such a complex and crucial truth, Paul often adds to Jesus’ agricultural metaphors for the Now and Not Yet. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3</a>, for example, Paul draws on the metaphor of a runner in the middle of a race, who is “straining toward what is ahead” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A13&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3:13 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3:13</a>) at the finish line. He switches to the metaphor of dual citizenship to capture the duality of the two time frames—living as citizens of the present earthly reality while awaiting the future arrival of a heavenly citizenship (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A20&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3:20 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3:20</a>).
<h2>Is Anxiety a Sin?</h2>
This overall “Now and Not Yet” framework is critical to understanding why <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> should not be wielded as a clobber verse that defines anxiety as a sin. Anxiety is an intrinsic and unavoidable feature of our Now and Not Yet incompleteness and should not be conflated with moral failure. Incompleteness is not the same as sin. We would be mistaken if we morally blamed an eight-year-old for being small or not knowing calculus . . . or for being racked with worry about their parents coming home.
In Paul’s letters, he is not shy about calling out actions rightly labeled as sin and disobedience. But he’s not using such moral categories in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%2C+4&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 3 and 4 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 3 and 4</a>. For instance, the encouragement right before <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4:6</a> is to “celebrate joyfully in the Lord, all the time” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A4&amp;version=NTE" title="Read Philippians 4:4 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4:4</a> NTE). But no one actually stays at this elevated spiritual state “all the time.” We all regularly slip back down into more “lowly” moods.
Continual celebration is an aspirational description of the final transformation of our emotional self. While Christians are invited to taste more and more of those celebratory emotions here and now, I do not fall into sin when I stop celebrating joyfully in the Lord and, for example, lament the awful pitching of the Chicago Cubs. Paul describes periods when he is decidedly not in a celebratory mood but is instead struggling with deep despair (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+1%3A8&amp;version=NIV" title="Read 2 Corinthians 1:8 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2 Corinthians 1:8</a>, for example). He never labels those negative emotional experiences as sin.
Similarly, the encouragement right after <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> is to think only about holy, upright, virtuous things (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A8&amp;version=NTE" title="Read Philippians 4:8 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4:8</a> NTE). Again, our minds will one day be transformed by the resurrection so we’ll be able to accomplish this constant mental focus. In the meantime, we only sometimes experience periods of such a pure mindset, though we should aspire to have more of it.
When our minds wander to, say, the latest celebrity gossip news, we have not committed wrong. Paul reveals how his own mind occasionally wanders to some fairly uncharitable (and crass) thoughts about his enemies. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5%3A12&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Galatians 5:12 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Galatians 5:12</a> includes some trash talking that would make a National Basketball Association player blush. Paul seems to accept these thoughts as part of his life in the Now.
In fact, those who wield <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> as a clobber verse to condemn anxiety as a sin neglect an important detail. Earlier in the letter, Paul describes his own anxiety for the Philippian church. Worry surrounded his decision to send his colleague Epaphroditus back to them. “This has made me all the more eager to send him, so that you’ll see him again and be glad,” he writes, adding, “and my own anxieties will be laid to rest” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A28&amp;version=NTE" title="Read Philippians 2:28 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 2:28</a> NTE).
Having freely admitted his own anxiety—without a trace of self-condemnation—it would be bizarre for Paul to intend his words “do not be anxious” in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> to be taken as an expectation that Christians would—or should—never feel anxious.
Therefore, in context, “do not be anxious” in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> is not meant as condemnation; it is encouragement to experience anxiety within the larger “Now and Not Yet” dynamic of spiritual growth where our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the glory of Christ’s body. Even as we aspire to more freedom from anxiety—an aspiration that will be met completely only in the Not Yet—we simultaneously should expect anxiety to always be part of our current life in the Now.
We should no more expect Christians to be free of anxiety than we should expect Christians to be free of colds, mosquito bites, flat tires, sadness, or mental distraction. Paul brings up anxiety in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6&amp;version=NIV" title="Read Philippians 4:6 on Bible Gateway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippians 4:6</a> precisely because he expects it to be a persistent problem for his audience.
________
<a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-anxiety-opportunity-how-worry-is-the-doorway-to-your-best-self?variant=40910505803912" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72288" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anxiety-Opportunity_Cover2.png" alt="The Anxiety Opportunity" width="280" height="280" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anxiety-Opportunity_Cover2.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anxiety-Opportunity_Cover2-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anxiety-Opportunity_Cover2-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" /></a>Adapted from <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-anxiety-opportunity-how-worry-is-the-doorway-to-your-best-self?variant=40910505803912" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry Is the Doorway to Your Best Self</a> by Curtis Chang. <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-anxiety-opportunity-how-worry-is-the-doorway-to-your-best-self?variant=40910505803912" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click here</a> to learn more about this book.
What if instead of battling anxiety, you saw your worries as a doorway to spiritual transformation? Challenging the assumption that anxiety is the enemy, theologian, popular podcaster, and fellow sufferer of chronic anxiety Curtis Chang gives you a different framework for approaching fears. You will discover profound new ways of relating to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and those you love.
Curtis Chang knows what it&#8217;s like to view anxiety as a sin to overcome. He also knows how trying to get rid of anxiety through sheer faith or willpower usually leads to feelings of shame and frustration. After losing his job as a pastor due to debilitating anxiety, Curtis began the process of healing his heart. Combining years of personal experience, spiritual practice, and biblical study, Curtis discovered an alternative approach—one that sees anxiety as the path to our best selves in Christ.
For all of us who feel stuck in a never-ending war with worry, <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-anxiety-opportunity-how-worry-is-the-doorway-to-your-best-self?variant=40910505803912" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Anxiety Opportunity</a> offers:
<ul>
<li>Biblical wisdom about how anxiety can lead to rich spiritual growth</li>
<li>An invitation to examine our fears as a way of pursuing our calling</li>
<li>Simple practices for converting nervous energy into fruitful energy</li>
<li>Insights into why trying to avoid loss generates more anxiety</li>
<li>A renewed sense of peace as we realize what God can do through our fears</li>
</ul>
It&#8217;s time to think differently about the relationship between anxiety and spiritual growth. This unique and profound exploration of one of the greatest epidemics of our time shows us how anxiety can be the very place we meet Jesus—and how channeling our anxiety can help us become more like him.
Curtis Chang is a theologian and consulting faculty member of Duke Divinity School and a Senior Fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary. Curtis has recently written for the New York Times and Christianity Today and has appeared on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, and NPR&#8217;s All Things Considered. Curtis is also the cohost of Good Faith, a podcast with David French.
His ministry, speaking, and writing are fueled by a passion to help Christians recognize the surprising authority and relevance of Jesus for parts of life that are often left to the secular world.
<h2><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-71382" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-194x300.png" alt="Three Principles of and Three Guidelines for Encouragement by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender" width="220" srcset="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-194x300.png 194w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-662x1024.png 662w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-768x1187.png 768w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-994x1536.png 994w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover-1325x2048.png 1325w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/26104609/EncouragementCover.png 1651w" sizes="(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px" />Looking for More?</h2>
<a href="https://www.zondervan.com/zondervan-books-faith-in-action/#newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up today</a> for the Zondervan Books Faith in Action monthly email newsletter and receive the PDF eBook Three Principles of and Three Guidelines for Encouragement by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender, adapted from Encouragement: The Unexpected Power of Building Others Up.
Each month you’ll receive an email with a deal, a feature article, and book samples designed to help you find more life-changing books for your reading and listening lists.
<a href="https://www.zondervan.com/zondervan-books-faith-in-action/#newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LEARN MORE</a>
________
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/what-does-philippians-say-about-anxiety/">What Does Philippians Say about Anxiety?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

By Curtis Chang
You’ve heard it.
The most commonly cited verse about anxiety is Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Dr. Dan Allender, professor of counseling psychology at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, cautions the use of this verse in addressing anxiety. He says Philippians 4:6 can often be used by those who aren’t experiencing anxiety as a means of “‘clobbering’ those who are anxious.” Dr. Allender warns against “the idea of hearing Philippians 4 and assuming ‘my anxiety goes away.’”

I happen to like Philippians 4:6, but I also don’t like how it is used as a “clobber verse” to make anxious people feel like they’re doing something wrong or, even worse, that there is something wrong about them. As with most clobber verses, in this situation it is being used out of context.
The Theological Framework
To understand the verses in Philippians 4, you have to grasp the teachings of the previous chapter, which presents the theological core of the entire letter. Philippians 3 sets the overall context for Paul’s words in 4:6 about anxiety and, in fact, establishes a key framework for how Christians should understand all aspects of their life.
The framework of Philippians 3 is that Christians live as “Now and Not Yet” people. This is sadly undertaught in Christian circles, which is why anxiety is so often misunderstood and why many clobber verses are misused.
What is a “Now and Not Yet” person? This person is summarized by Philippians 3:21, which declares that “our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the body of Christ’s glory.” The Now and Not Yet life is defined by the life goal of becoming like Jesus. This is the amazing promise of the gospel: God is at work to transform every bit of ourselves to conform to Jesus, the one who will give us his “glory.”
Glory is the biblical term describing the amazingly good way of life when we fully reflect God’s intentions for us. Jesus obtained his glory because he fully reflected God’s intentions in his life. Philippians 3:21 promises that as we become like Jesus, we will share in that same “glory.”
However, the same verse assumes that this glorious destiny requires an understanding of spiritual growth that allows for the struggles of our current “lowly bodies.” Note that lowly in Paul’s usage here means “incomplete” (it does not mean “sinful”). He is emphasizing that the full completion of our transformation awaits the future, the Not Yet when Jesus returns (Philippians 3:10).
In the Now, we will still struggle with experiences like complex physical and neurological misfirings. My current “lowly body” will still fall quite short of “glory.” Nevertheless, the Now and Not Yet are organically connected. This is what it means that our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the body of Christ’s glory. Our Not Yet body of glory grows out of our Now body of struggle.
Paul isn’t making up this Now and Not Yet dynamic. He gets it straight from Jesus. Jesus often used agricultural metaphors to convey this dynamic of spiritual growth. His favorite metaphor was to point to how a seed of some plant is growing in the present Now and still is on its way to becoming its fully completed self in the future Not Yet (see, for example, Matthew 13:3–8, 19–23; Mark 4:3–9, 14–32; Luke 8:4–8, 11–15; and more).
Because this is such a complex and crucial truth, Paul often adds to Jesus’ agricultural metaphors for the Now and Not Yet. In Philippians 3, for example, Paul draws on the metaphor of a runner in the middle of a race, who is “straining toward what is ahead” (3:13) at the finish line. He switches to the metaphor of dual citizenship to capture the duality of the two time frames—living as citizens of the present earthly reality while awaiting the future arrival of a heavenly citizenship (3:20).
Is Anxiety a Sin?
This overall “Now and Not Yet” framework is critical to understanding why Philippians 4:6 should not be wielded as a clobber verse that defines anxiety as a sin. Anxiety is an intrinsic and unavoidable feature of our Now and Not Yet incompleteness and should not be conflated with moral failure. Incompleteness is not the same as sin. We would be mistaken if we morally blamed an eight-year-old for being small or not knowing calculus . . . or for being racked with worry about their parents coming home.
In Paul’s letters, he is not shy about calling out actions rightly labeled as sin and disobedience. But he’s not using such moral categories in Philippians 3 and 4. For instance, the encouragement right before 4:6 is to “celebrate joyfully in the Lord, all the time” (4:4 NTE). But no one actually stays at this elevated spiritual state “all the time.” We all regularly slip back down into more “lowly” moods.
Continual celebration is an aspirational description of the final transformation of our emotional self. While Christians are invited to taste more and more of those celebratory emotions here and now, I do not fall into sin when I stop celebrating joyfully in the Lord and, for example, lament the awful pitching of the Chicago Cubs. Paul describes periods when he is decidedly not in a celebratory mood but is instead struggling with deep despair (see 2 Corinthians 1:8, for example). He never labels those negative emotional experiences as sin.
Similarly, the encouragement right after Philippians 4:6 is to think only about holy, upright, virtuous things (4:8 NTE). Again, our minds will one day be transformed by the resurrection so we’ll be able to accomplish this constant mental focus. In the meantime, we only sometimes experience periods of such a pure mindset, though we should aspire to have more of it.
When our minds wander to, say, the latest celebrity gossip news, we have not committed wrong. Paul reveals how his own mind occasionally wanders to some fairly uncharitable (and crass) thoughts about his enemies. Galatians 5:12 includes some trash talking that would make a National Basketball Association player blush. Paul seems to accept these thoughts as part of his life in the Now.
In fact, those who wield Philippians 4:6 as a clobber verse to condemn anxiety as a sin neglect an important detail. Earlier in the letter, Paul describes his own anxiety for the Philippian church. Worry surrounded his decision to send his colleague Epaphroditus back to them. “This has made me all the more eager to send him, so that you’ll see him again and be glad,” he writes, adding, “and my own anxieties will be laid to rest” (Philippians 2:28 NTE).
Having freely admitted his own anxiety—without a trace of self-condemnation—it would be bizarre for Paul to intend his words “do not be anxious” in Philippians 4:6 to be taken as an expectation that Christians would—or should—never feel anxious.
Therefore, in context, “do not be anxious” in Philippians 4:6 is not meant as condemnation; it is encouragement to experience anxiety within the larger “Now and Not Yet” dynamic of spiritual growth where our current lowly bodies are being transformed to the glory of Christ’s body. Even as we aspire to more freedom from anxiety—an aspiration that will be met completely only in the Not Yet—we simultaneously should expect anxiety to always be part of our current life in the Now.
We should no more expect Christians to be free of anxiety than we should expect Christians to be free of colds, mosquito bites, flat tires, sadness, or mental distraction. Paul brings up anxiety in Philippians 4:6 precisely because he expects it to be a persistent problem for his audience.
________
Adapted from The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry Is the Doorway to Your Best Self by Curtis Chang. Click here to learn more about this book.
What if instead of battling anxiety, you saw your worries as a doorway to spiritual transformation? Challenging the assumption that anxiety is the enemy, theologian, popular podcaster, and fellow sufferer of chronic anxiety Curtis Chang gives you a different framework for approaching fears. You will discover profound new ways of relating to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and those you love.
Curtis Chang knows what it’s like to view anxiety as a sin to overcome. He also knows how trying to get rid of anxiety through sheer faith or willpower usually leads to feelings of shame and frustration. After losing his job as a pastor due to debilitating anxiety, Curtis began the process of healing his heart. Combining years of personal experience, spiritual practice, and biblical study, Curtis discovered an alternative approach—one that sees anxiety as the path to our best selves in Christ.
For all of us who feel stuck in a never-ending war with worry, The Anxiety Opportunity offers:
Biblical wisdom about how anxiety can lead to rich spiritual growth
An invitation to examine our fears as a way of pursuing our calling
Simple practices for converting nervous energy into fruitful energy
Insights into why trying to avoid loss generates more anxiety
A renewed sense of peace as we realize what God can do through our fears
It’s time to think differently about the relationship between anxiety and spiritual growth. This unique and profound exploration of one of the greatest epidemics of our time shows us how anxiety can be the very place we meet Jesus—and how channeling our anxiety can help us become more like him.
Curtis Chang is a theologian and consulting faculty member of Duke Divinity School and a Senior Fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary. Curtis has recently written for the New York Times and Christianity Today and has appeared on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Curtis is also the cohost of Good Faith, a podcast with David French.
His ministry, speaking, and writing are fueled by a passion to help Christians recognize the surprising authority and relevance of Jesus for parts of life that are often left to the secular world.
Looking for More?
Sign up today for the Zondervan Books Faith in Action monthly email newsletter and receive the PDF eBook Three Principles of and Three Guidelines for Encouragement by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender, adapted from Encouragement: The Unexpected Power of Building Others Up.
Each month you’ll receive an email with a deal, a feature article, and book samples designed to help you find more life-changing books for your reading and listening lists.
LEARN MORE
________
The post What Does Philippians Say about Anxiety? appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

By Curtis Chang You’ve heard it. The most commonly cited verse about anxiety is Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Dr. Dan Allender, professor of counseling psychology at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, cautions the use […]
The post What Does Philippians Say about Anxiety? appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

What Does Philippians Say about Anxiety?

By Kyle Idleman “How’s that working for ya?” is the question I ask people who need to make a change. My executive coach therapist asked it more gently and a little less passive-aggressively than I would have, but I’ve asked the question enough to know it’s a rhetorical question. The answer was so obvious that [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/what-does-jesus-say-when-nothing-seems-to-be-working/">What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-72282" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kyle-Idleman_Portrait2.png" alt="Kyle Idleman: What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working?" width="33%" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kyle-Idleman_Portrait2.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kyle-Idleman_Portrait2-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kyle-Idleman_Portrait2-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" />By Kyle Idleman
“How’s that working for ya?” is the question I ask people who need to make a change. My <s>executive coach</s> therapist asked it more gently and a little less passive-aggressively than I would have, but I’ve asked the question enough to know it’s a rhetorical question. The answer was so obvious that it didn’t need to be said out loud. We both knew my way wasn’t working.
I will somewhat begrudgingly share more of my situation with you in my book <a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">When Your Way Isn’t Working</a>. But for now, would you start by asking yourself that same question: How is your way working for you?

<h2>The Final Words of Jesus to His Followers</h2>
After my first meeting with my <s>executive coach</s> therapist, I was getting ready to start a new sermon series that would expound on <a title="Read John 14-17 on Bible Gateway" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%E2%80%9317&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John 14–17</a>. Recorded in these chapters of John are the final words of Jesus to his closest followers before his crucifixion.
This passage of Scripture is often referred to as the “Farewell Discourse.” Four different discourses of Jesus are identified in the Gospels, but this is the longest and certainly the most personal. Jesus knows he doesn’t have much time left on earth—his time with the disciples is coming to an end—so he has some things he wants to make sure to say to them.
If you’ve ever spent time with someone in the final moments of their lives, you know that the conversations are especially personal and intentional. The disciples don’t realize that this is the end of their time with Jesus, but he knows full well what is coming.
He knows the uncertainty they will experience in the days ahead. He knows the challenges they’ll face and the insecurity they’ll feel. He knows how overwhelmed they will feel regarding the mission he will give them. He knows how people will misunderstand them and falsely accuse them. He knows they will soon feel worn-out and weak. And Jesus knows that if his disciples try to do things their way, it won’t work.
Doing things their way will create division and cause them to turn on each other. Doing things their way will cause them to feel discouraged with the lack of progress.
It will make them feel like quitting because of their own inadequacies. It will leave them feeling overwhelmed by everything that is out of their control. Doing things their way will leave them angry with God and with each other, but especially with themselves.
<h2>The Key Metaphor</h2>
Here I want to highlight one verse from the Farewell Discourse—<a title="Read John 15:5 on Bible Gateway" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+15%3A5&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John 15:5</a>:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The phrase can do nothing captures the exasperation of your way that isn’t working. You feel like you’ve put in the work but you’re not getting the results. Despite your good intentions and maybe even your disciplined routines, you’re not seeing the gains.
There are other ways to translate “can do nothing.” You might say:
<ul>
<li>“Nothing seems to be working” or</li>
<li>“I can’t catch a break” or</li>
<li>“The deck’s stacked against me” or</li>
<li>“What’s the point?” or</li>
<li>“I’ve tried everything.”</li>
</ul>
When nothing you do is working, Jesus gives a metaphor to help you know what to focus on, and it all comes down to one word: connection. Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches, and as long as we stay connected with him, we will bear much fruit, but apart from him nothing works the way it should.
The word that keeps showing up as Jesus unpacks this metaphor is remain. The English Standard Version translates the Greek word meno here as “abide.” It shows up eleven times in <a title="Read John 15:1-15 on Bible Gateway" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15%3A1%E2%80%9315&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John 15:1–15</a>. In his final moments, Jesus tells his followers again and again to stay connected with him.
No matter what happens in the future, no matter how discouraged you become, no matter how disappointed you are, no matter how frustrating the situation is, no matter how tired you feel, no matter what trouble you experience, here’s the one thing you must never forget to do: stay connected.
When your way isn’t working, check your connection with the Vine. You are the branch, and the branch’s most important job is to stay connected with the Vine.
________
<a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72281" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/When-Your-Way-Is-Not-Working_Cover2.png" alt="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" width="280" height="280" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/When-Your-Way-Is-Not-Working_Cover2.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/When-Your-Way-Is-Not-Working_Cover2-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/When-Your-Way-Is-Not-Working_Cover2-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" /></a>Adapted from <a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">When Your Way Isn’t Working: Finding Purpose and Contentment through Deep Connection with Jesus</a> by Kyle Idleman. <a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click here</a> to learn more about this book.
When you are worn-out, when you feel discouraged, when you think you don&#8217;t have what it takes, what is the one thing that Jesus wants you to never forget? <a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">When Your Way Isn&#8217;t Working</a> equips you to discover authentic connection to God and others so you are free to live the life you long for.
In some of his final words to his closest friends, Jesus didn&#8217;t suggest a five-year plan for success or a checklist of things to do. Instead, he offered a metaphor about what the good life really looks like: I am the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. In other words, No matter what happens next, the most important thing is to stay connected to me.
In <a title="When Your Way Isn't Working by Kyle Idleman" href="https://faithgateway.com/products/when-your-way-isnt-working-finding-purpose-and-contentment-through-deep-connection-with-jesus?variant=40953395413128" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">When Your Way Isn&#8217;t Working</a>, pastor and bestselling author Kyle Idleman offers a unique exploration of <a title="Read John 15 on Bible Gateway" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+15&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John 15</a> for all of us who are going through the motions and feel frustrated. Idleman reminds us that it&#8217;s connection, not production, that leads to a fruitful life—relationships, not circumstances, that bring joy. He offers his distinctive, biblical perspective on how to:
<ul>
<li>Find greater rest, depth, and connection in your life</li>
<li>Embrace freedom from the pressures of performance and production</li>
<li>Recognize what you can&#8217;t do makes room for what God can do</li>
<li>Step out of isolation even when it feels scary</li>
<li>Discover the top distractions that keep you from connecting to God—and how to counter them</li>
</ul>
In the end, the fruit of your life won&#8217;t have to do with what you accomplished but with whom you stayed connected. Because no matter what happens next in this uncertain world, what matters most, lasts the longest, and brings the greatest joy is staying connected to the God who never leaves you.
Kyle Idleman is the senior pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest churches in America. On a normal weekend, he speaks to more than twenty-five thousand people spread across eleven campuses.
More than anything else, Kyle enjoys unearthing the teachings of Jesus and making them relevant in people’s lives. He is a frequent speaker for national conventions and influential churches across the country.
Kyle and his wife, DesiRae, have been married for over twenty-five years. They have four children, two sons-in-law, and recently welcomed their first grandchild. They live on a farm in Kentucky.


<h2>Looking for More?<a href="https://www.zondervan.com/zondervan-books-to-help-you-grow/#newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright wp-image-70989 size-full" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/30134528/SpectacleGloryCover2-220.png" alt="A Spectacle of Glory: The First 28 Days by Joni Eareckson Tada, taken from Joni's devotional A Spectacle of Glory: God's Light Shining through Me Every Day" width="220" height="338" srcset="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/30134528/SpectacleGloryCover2-220.png 220w, https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/30134528/SpectacleGloryCover2-220-195x300.png 195w" sizes="(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" /></a></h2>



<a href="https://www.zondervan.com/zondervan-books-to-help-you-grow/#newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up today</a> for the Zondervan Books Growth monthly email newsletter and receive the PDF eBook A Spectacle of Glory: The First 28 Days by Joni Eareckson Tada, taken from Joni&#8217;s devotional A Spectacle of Glory: God&#8217;s Light Shining through Me Every Day.



Each month you’ll receive an email with a deal, a feature article, and book samples designed to help you find more incredible books for your reading and listening lists.



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________
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/what-does-jesus-say-when-nothing-seems-to-be-working/">What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

By Kyle Idleman
“How’s that working for ya?” is the question I ask people who need to make a change. My executive coach therapist asked it more gently and a little less passive-aggressively than I would have, but I’ve asked the question enough to know it’s a rhetorical question. The answer was so obvious that it didn’t need to be said out loud. We both knew my way wasn’t working.
I will somewhat begrudgingly share more of my situation with you in my book When Your Way Isn’t Working. But for now, would you start by asking yourself that same question: How is your way working for you?

The Final Words of Jesus to His Followers
After my first meeting with my executive coach therapist, I was getting ready to start a new sermon series that would expound on John 14–17. Recorded in these chapters of John are the final words of Jesus to his closest followers before his crucifixion.
This passage of Scripture is often referred to as the “Farewell Discourse.” Four different discourses of Jesus are identified in the Gospels, but this is the longest and certainly the most personal. Jesus knows he doesn’t have much time left on earth—his time with the disciples is coming to an end—so he has some things he wants to make sure to say to them.
If you’ve ever spent time with someone in the final moments of their lives, you know that the conversations are especially personal and intentional. The disciples don’t realize that this is the end of their time with Jesus, but he knows full well what is coming.
He knows the uncertainty they will experience in the days ahead. He knows the challenges they’ll face and the insecurity they’ll feel. He knows how overwhelmed they will feel regarding the mission he will give them. He knows how people will misunderstand them and falsely accuse them. He knows they will soon feel worn-out and weak. And Jesus knows that if his disciples try to do things their way, it won’t work.
Doing things their way will create division and cause them to turn on each other. Doing things their way will cause them to feel discouraged with the lack of progress.
It will make them feel like quitting because of their own inadequacies. It will leave them feeling overwhelmed by everything that is out of their control. Doing things their way will leave them angry with God and with each other, but especially with themselves.
The Key Metaphor
Here I want to highlight one verse from the Farewell Discourse—John 15:5:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The phrase can do nothing captures the exasperation of your way that isn’t working. You feel like you’ve put in the work but you’re not getting the results. Despite your good intentions and maybe even your disciplined routines, you’re not seeing the gains.
There are other ways to translate “can do nothing.” You might say:
“Nothing seems to be working” or
“I can’t catch a break” or
“The deck’s stacked against me” or
“What’s the point?” or
“I’ve tried everything.”
When nothing you do is working, Jesus gives a metaphor to help you know what to focus on, and it all comes down to one word: connection. Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches, and as long as we stay connected with him, we will bear much fruit, but apart from him nothing works the way it should.
The word that keeps showing up as Jesus unpacks this metaphor is remain. The English Standard Version translates the Greek word meno here as “abide.” It shows up eleven times in John 15:1–15. In his final moments, Jesus tells his followers again and again to stay connected with him.
No matter what happens in the future, no matter how discouraged you become, no matter how disappointed you are, no matter how frustrating the situation is, no matter how tired you feel, no matter what trouble you experience, here’s the one thing you must never forget to do: stay connected.
When your way isn’t working, check your connection with the Vine. You are the branch, and the branch’s most important job is to stay connected with the Vine.
________
Adapted from When Your Way Isn’t Working: Finding Purpose and Contentment through Deep Connection with Jesus by Kyle Idleman. Click here to learn more about this book.
When you are worn-out, when you feel discouraged, when you think you don’t have what it takes, what is the one thing that Jesus wants you to never forget? When Your Way Isn’t Working equips you to discover authentic connection to God and others so you are free to live the life you long for.
In some of his final words to his closest friends, Jesus didn’t suggest a five-year plan for success or a checklist of things to do. Instead, he offered a metaphor about what the good life really looks like: I am the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. In other words, No matter what happens next, the most important thing is to stay connected to me.
In When Your Way Isn’t Working, pastor and bestselling author Kyle Idleman offers a unique exploration of John 15 for all of us who are going through the motions and feel frustrated. Idleman reminds us that it’s connection, not production, that leads to a fruitful life—relationships, not circumstances, that bring joy. He offers his distinctive, biblical perspective on how to:
Find greater rest, depth, and connection in your life
Embrace freedom from the pressures of performance and production
Recognize what you can’t do makes room for what God can do
Step out of isolation even when it feels scary
Discover the top distractions that keep you from connecting to God—and how to counter them
In the end, the fruit of your life won’t have to do with what you accomplished but with whom you stayed connected. Because no matter what happens next in this uncertain world, what matters most, lasts the longest, and brings the greatest joy is staying connected to the God who never leaves you.
Kyle Idleman is the senior pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest churches in America. On a normal weekend, he speaks to more than twenty-five thousand people spread across eleven campuses.
More than anything else, Kyle enjoys unearthing the teachings of Jesus and making them relevant in people’s lives. He is a frequent speaker for national conventions and influential churches across the country.
Kyle and his wife, DesiRae, have been married for over twenty-five years. They have four children, two sons-in-law, and recently welcomed their first grandchild. They live on a farm in Kentucky.
Looking for More?
Sign up today for the Zondervan Books Growth monthly email newsletter and receive the PDF eBook A Spectacle of Glory: The First 28 Days by Joni Eareckson Tada, taken from Joni’s devotional A Spectacle of Glory: God’s Light Shining through Me Every Day.
Each month you’ll receive an email with a deal, a feature article, and book samples designed to help you find more incredible books for your reading and listening lists.
LEARN MORE
________
The post What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working? appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

By Kyle Idleman “How’s that working for ya?” is the question I ask people who need to make a change. My executive coach therapist asked it more gently and a little less passive-aggressively than I would have, but I’ve asked the question enough to know it’s a rhetorical question. The answer was so obvious that […]
The post What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working? appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

What Does Jesus Say When Nothing Seems to Be Working?

In this sixth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/the-common-life-with-god-philippians-25-11/">The Common Life with God | Philippians 2:5-11</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this sixth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="500" height="334" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27057"/></a></figure></div>



In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/philippians-and-1-2-thessalonians?variant=39991840473224">Philippians and 1 &amp; 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.</a>



For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201&amp;version=NIV">Philippians</a>. For this week, here is the sixth study, The Common Life of God | <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A5-11&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:5-11</a>.







<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee shouldbow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.</blockquote>



The common life into which Christians are to grow transcends the business strategy of building a cohesive team, to get along with others in the city of Philippi, or to be effective in ministry. Each may be desirable but there is something profoundly deep about the common life into which Christians are to be formed. What is said in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A6&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:6</a> taps into the very nature of God’s very Self. Who Jesus Christ was and is and what Jesus did on earth for us all express the heart of God.



Jesus is what God is like. In Jesus we see God most clearly. His life is the God-shaped life. To deny self- promotion in order to serve others is God-like and godly because it is Christ-like. Lynn Cohick calls us to begin this passage in a way that flows from the previous passage, beginning with the “If” statements in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A1&amp;version=NIV">2:1</a>. That is, since we already are participating in Christ, let us live in a way that reflects the pattern of his life. The common life into which we are called is nothing less than the God-life.







Common Life with One Another



In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A1-4&amp;version=NIV">2:1–4</a> Paul exhorted the Philippians to a unity rooted in humility that emerges from being in Christ. That observation rushed Paul immediately to how Jesus him- self conducted himself, which he will set out in a series of poetic lines (notice how the NIV makes our passage poetic). 



The challenge is the foundational principle: in Christ we can have a common life that exhibits the way Jesus lived. Peter and John, it was said, impressed the authorities in Jerusalem as “ordinary men” who “had been with Jesus” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A13&amp;version=NIV">Acts 4:13</a>). Others and outsiders who come into the circles of Christian fellowship will be most impressed if we look like we have spent time with Jesus.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png" alt="" class="wp-image-72242" width="-194" height="-162" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png 940w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB-300x251.png 300w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB-768x644.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px" /></a></figure></div>



Common Life in the Heart of God



Paul now recites (and probably edits) in vv. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A6%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">6–11</a> an early Christian poem, and perhaps a hymn, about the pattern of Jesus’ life. And these lines were probably composed for early Christian worship and meditation. They sing into worship the teachings of Jesus himself (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+8%3A31%E2%80%939%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Mark 8:31–9:1</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13&amp;version=NIV">John 13</a>). A Roman leader named Pliny observed not long after this letter was written that the Christians assembled to “sing hymns to Christ as if to a god.” This poem in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2</a> could have been one of those hymns. It’s worth remembering that, as Marilynne Robinson once said, “Caesar Augustus was also said to be divine” but “there aren’t any songs about him.” We still sing about Jesus.



Here are the important words that take us to the common-life heart of God: “Who, being in the very nature God.” The RSV, ESV, NRSV, NLT, and CEB have “though he was in the form of God” or something close. The word “though” expresses a concession. That is, though he was God and transcendent and invisible and immortal, nonetheless God condescended to become a human. This very traditional interpretation impacted the history of how most Christians have read this text. The Greek behind this is not so explicit as “though” suggests.



Instead of “though,” most recent translations have gone with what can be called a simple, literal translation: “being in the very nature God.” “Being” is the plain sense of the term, no more and no less. The word behind “very nature” is morphē, which points to the defining, visible attributes of Jesus, including equality with God. Many today read “being” as pointing to something innate and essential to who God is. That is, it is God-like for God to extend himself out of love into human form in order to express that love.



It’s complicated, but we need to get this right. Instead of “though,” we should think like the meaning is this: because he was God, or being the kind of God God was, he became human to redeem humans.



Which reveals something profound about our God. God is and always has been and always will be a God who reaches out to others in self-giving love. God the Father loves God the Son and God the Spirit, and the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Son and the Father. In eternity past God has always been a self- giving God. This is why John says, “God IS love” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+4%3A16&amp;version=NIV">1 John 4:16</a>). To love is to give oneself for another, and in loving to encircle them in a common life.



The implication of this reading boggles: we are to share a Christ-like common life because God in God’s own Self is a common-life self-giving God. When we “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” we experience the heart of God. In Philippians this had to do with such things as sharing resources with one another and supporting the gospel mission to reach others with that gospel. But the common life for them was so profound it affected every dimension of life.







Common Life Embodied in Christ



God’s very self-giving essence was embodied in the pattern of Jesus’ own life. I was taught as a college student to read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A6%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:6–11</a> as a “U”: from the throne room of God’s own inner life (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A6&amp;version=NIV">2:6</a>), down into human flesh (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A7&amp;version=NIV">2:7</a>), then down even further into the degradation of human degradations, death on a cross (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A8&amp;version=NIV">2:8</a>), which then turns upward into God’s exaltation of Christ “to the highest place” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A9&amp;version=NIV">2:9</a>) where the crucified One will be One worshiped by all and declared Lord of all (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A10-11&amp;version=NIV">2:10–11</a>). That’s the U–from heaven to earth and back. (The downward-upward imagery, of course, is imagery and not reality. Heaven is no more upward than downward since heaven is wherever God is, and God is everywhere.)



This U-pattern reveals Who God is and how God acts.



As Hawthorne and Martin express this poetically,



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“in the divine economy of things, by giving people receive,by serving they are served,by losing their lives they find them, by dying they live,by humbling themselves they are exalted.”</blockquote>



Jesus did not seize or hang on to “equality with God,” and this text affirms as well as any other text in the Bible the deity of Christ (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A6&amp;version=NIV">2:6</a>). The NIV’s “used to his own advantage” expresses the very heart of Paul’s challenge to the Philippians. Instead of self-protection and self-promotion, Jesus chose other-protection and other-promotion. Instead of hanging on to glory, Jesus entered into the human condition all the way to the bottom. 



Nothing more ignominious can be experienced in the human condition than being a slave (not “servant” as in the NIV) and then, as a slave, suffering the vicious humiliation of the Roman powers crucifying naked and in public a just, good man, which was Jesus’ fate among them.



Think about this: the Way of Jesus counters the Way of Rome, and the Way of Rome has had too much play among the Philippians. So Paul has to remind them all over again about the Way of Jesus. The Way of Jesus is the Way of God.



Notice that these were choices made by Jesus. He “did not consider equality” and “he made himself” and “by taking” and “he humbled himself.” He consciously and intentionally chose the cross-shaped life (cruciformity) at each stage of the journey. 



The Son did not surrender divinity but became human as the one equal to God. He was the God-Human, not the Human formerly known as God. Just as mothers and fathers do not cease being parents when they lay on the floor to play with a child and so enter into that child’s world. Jesus’ choices are matched by the Father’s choices to reward him: “God exalted him” and “gave him” so Jesus would be given the glory he deserved.



The challenge to unity through humility, to a Christo-form life, is a choice. No, it is daily choices. In relationship with those we love and those we don’t even like, at home, at play, at work, at church. In the ordinary and in the unusual. We experience glory on the far side of the cruciform life, though at times we glimpse that glory now.



Questions for Reflection and Application



<ol type="1"><li>In what ways does Jesus show us what God is like?</li><li>How does God express God’s love through a life-in-common?</li><li>What is the “U-shaped” pattern of Jesus’ life?</li><li>In what ways does your life look like Jesus, like you have spent time with him?</li><li>What does “cruciform” mean? How can you live a more cruciform, or Christoform, life, especially regarding unity?</li></ol>



The <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/the-common-life-with-god-philippians-25-11/">The Common Life with God | Philippians 2:5-11</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this sixth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.

In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.
For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the sixth study, The Common Life of God | Philippians 2:5-11.





5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.




The common life into which Christians are to grow transcends the business strategy of building a cohesive team, to get along with others in the city of Philippi, or to be effective in ministry. Each may be desirable but there is something profoundly deep about the common life into which Christians are to be formed. What is said in Philippians 2:6 taps into the very nature of God’s very Self. Who Jesus Christ was and is and what Jesus did on earth for us all express the heart of God.
Jesus is what God is like. In Jesus we see God most clearly. His life is the God-shaped life. To deny self- promotion in order to serve others is God-like and godly because it is Christ-like. Lynn Cohick calls us to begin this passage in a way that flows from the previous passage, beginning with the “If” statements in 2:1. That is, since we already are participating in Christ, let us live in a way that reflects the pattern of his life. The common life into which we are called is nothing less than the God-life.




Common Life with One Another
In 2:1–4 Paul exhorted the Philippians to a unity rooted in humility that emerges from being in Christ. That observation rushed Paul immediately to how Jesus him- self conducted himself, which he will set out in a series of poetic lines (notice how the NIV makes our passage poetic). 
The challenge is the foundational principle: in Christ we can have a common life that exhibits the way Jesus lived. Peter and John, it was said, impressed the authorities in Jerusalem as “ordinary men” who “had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Others and outsiders who come into the circles of Christian fellowship will be most impressed if we look like we have spent time with Jesus.

Common Life in the Heart of God
Paul now recites (and probably edits) in vv. 6–11 an early Christian poem, and perhaps a hymn, about the pattern of Jesus’ life. And these lines were probably composed for early Christian worship and meditation. They sing into worship the teachings of Jesus himself (Mark 8:31–9:1; John 13). A Roman leader named Pliny observed not long after this letter was written that the Christians assembled to “sing hymns to Christ as if to a god.” This poem in Philippians 2 could have been one of those hymns. It’s worth remembering that, as Marilynne Robinson once said, “Caesar Augustus was also said to be divine” but “there aren’t any songs about him.” We still sing about Jesus.
Here are the important words that take us to the common-life heart of God: “Who, being in the very nature God.” The RSV, ESV, NRSV, NLT, and CEB have “though he was in the form of God” or something close. The word “though” expresses a concession. That is, though he was God and transcendent and invisible and immortal, nonetheless God condescended to become a human. This very traditional interpretation impacted the history of how most Christians have read this text. The Greek behind this is not so explicit as “though” suggests.
Instead of “though,” most recent translations have gone with what can be called a simple, literal translation: “being in the very nature God.” “Being” is the plain sense of the term, no more and no less. The word behind “very nature” is morphē, which points to the defining, visible attributes of Jesus, including equality with God. Many today read “being” as pointing to something innate and essential to who God is. That is, it is God-like for God to extend himself out of love into human form in order to express that love.
It’s complicated, but we need to get this right. Instead of “though,” we should think like the meaning is this: because he was God, or being the kind of God God was, he became human to redeem humans.
Which reveals something profound about our God. God is and always has been and always will be a God who reaches out to others in self-giving love. God the Father loves God the Son and God the Spirit, and the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Son and the Father. In eternity past God has always been a self- giving God. This is why John says, “God IS love” (1 John 4:16). To love is to give oneself for another, and in loving to encircle them in a common life.
The implication of this reading boggles: we are to share a Christ-like common life because God in God’s own Self is a common-life self-giving God. When we “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” we experience the heart of God. In Philippians this had to do with such things as sharing resources with one another and supporting the gospel mission to reach others with that gospel. But the common life for them was so profound it affected every dimension of life.




Common Life Embodied in Christ
God’s very self-giving essence was embodied in the pattern of Jesus’ own life. I was taught as a college student to read Philippians 2:6–11 as a “U”: from the throne room of God’s own inner life (2:6), down into human flesh (2:7), then down even further into the degradation of human degradations, death on a cross (2:8), which then turns upward into God’s exaltation of Christ “to the highest place” (2:9) where the crucified One will be One worshiped by all and declared Lord of all (2:10–11). That’s the U–from heaven to earth and back. (The downward-upward imagery, of course, is imagery and not reality. Heaven is no more upward than downward since heaven is wherever God is, and God is everywhere.)
This U-pattern reveals Who God is and how God acts.
As Hawthorne and Martin express this poetically,
“in the divine economy of things, by giving people receive,
by serving they are served,
by losing their lives they find them, by dying they live,
by humbling themselves they are exalted.”




Jesus did not seize or hang on to “equality with God,” and this text affirms as well as any other text in the Bible the deity of Christ (2:6). The NIV’s “used to his own advantage” expresses the very heart of Paul’s challenge to the Philippians. Instead of self-protection and self-promotion, Jesus chose other-protection and other-promotion. Instead of hanging on to glory, Jesus entered into the human condition all the way to the bottom. 
Nothing more ignominious can be experienced in the human condition than being a slave (not “servant” as in the NIV) and then, as a slave, suffering the vicious humiliation of the Roman powers crucifying naked and in public a just, good man, which was Jesus’ fate among them.
Think about this: the Way of Jesus counters the Way of Rome, and the Way of Rome has had too much play among the Philippians. So Paul has to remind them all over again about the Way of Jesus. The Way of Jesus is the Way of God.
Notice that these were choices made by Jesus. He “did not consider equality” and “he made himself” and “by taking” and “he humbled himself.” He consciously and intentionally chose the cross-shaped life (cruciformity) at each stage of the journey. 
The Son did not surrender divinity but became human as the one equal to God. He was the God-Human, not the Human formerly known as God. Just as mothers and fathers do not cease being parents when they lay on the floor to play with a child and so enter into that child’s world. Jesus’ choices are matched by the Father’s choices to reward him: “God exalted him” and “gave him” so Jesus would be given the glory he deserved.
The challenge to unity through humility, to a Christo-form life, is a choice. No, it is daily choices. In relationship with those we love and those we don’t even like, at home, at play, at work, at church. In the ordinary and in the unusual. We experience glory on the far side of the cruciform life, though at times we glimpse that glory now.
Questions for Reflection and Application
In what ways does Jesus show us what God is like?
How does God express God’s love through a life-in-common?
What is the “U-shaped” pattern of Jesus’ life?
In what ways does your life look like Jesus, like you have spent time with him?
What does “cruciform” mean? How can you live a more cruciform, or Christoform, life, especially regarding unity?




The New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post The Common Life with God | Philippians 2:5-11 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

In this sixth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. […]
The post The Common Life with God | Philippians 2:5-11 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

The Common Life with God | Philippians 2:5-11

In this fifth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/examples-of-a-common-life-in-philippians-21-4/">Examples of a Common Life in Philippians 2:1-4</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this fifth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.







<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="500" height="334" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27057"/></a></figure></div>



In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/philippians-and-1-2-thessalonians?variant=39991840473224">Philippians and 1 &amp; 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.</a>



For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201&amp;version=NIV">Philippians</a>. For this week, here is the fifth study, A Common Example | <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1-4&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:1-4</a>.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Thereforeif you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,if any comfort from his love,if any common sharing in the Spirit,if any tenderness and compassion,2 then make my joy complete by beinglike-minded,having the same love,being one in spirit andof one mind.3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.</blockquote>



Living in unity as a fellowship, or a common life together, is a great idea. Until you have to get along with someone you don’t like. It only takes a little while to encounter such a person. We cannot expect uniformity or consensus on everything, but we are to strive for an achievable unity.



The emphasis on a common life and unity in this short letter requires that we assume fractures and fissures had formed among the believers in Philippi, and Paul is urging them to transcend their divisions.



The apostle proposes in our verses a theological basis that appeals to the “affective faculties.” Just as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27%E2%80%9330&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 1:27–30</a> was one long sentence, so <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1%E2%80%934&amp;version=NIV">2:1–4</a> is another one and a rather complex one at that.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png" alt="" class="wp-image-72242" width="403" height="338" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB.png 940w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB-300x251.png 300w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Fellowship-Graphic-FB-768x644.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px" /></a></figure></div>



Verse one is the If-clause and verses two through four are the then-clause: This “if” could be translated “since” or “supposing” or “assuming.” That is, assuming verse one to be the case, verses two through four should happen! That is, if you’ve got all these blessings then you can also achieve unity with one another. The translation above is reformat- ted to make the listing more visible.







<h2 class="has-text-align-center">If . . .</h2>



Notice that there are four terms here in verse one – ”encouragement,” “comfort,” “common sharing,” and the doubled expression “tenderness and compassion.” The “encouragement” and “comfort” result “from being united with Christ,” and the “common sharing” or fellowship, along with “tenderness and compassion,” derive from “the Spirit.” We can diagram it like this:



Encouragement and comfort in Christ. Common life, tenderness and compassion in the Spirit.



Verse one then describes what we get from God, that is, these items are God-given, emotionally experienced redemptive realities. They are not human virtues. They are palpable intimacies we feel in our relationship with Christ and the Spirit. Cohick observes that “The church’s life force is the breath of the Spirit, the blood of Jesus, the mind of Christ, the will of the Father.”



Let me then just jump ahead to get right to the point: 



If God is at work in you in Christ and in the Spirit, you can grow as well to experience unity’s virtues. 



The blessings of verse one, then, are not hard-earned moral accomplishments. They are instead grace-empowered, Christ-achieved, and Spirit-drenched acts of God in us.



<h2 class="has-text-align-center">. . . Then</h2>



If God is at work in you, Paul says, Make me happy! That is, “make my joy compete” or “fill me up with joy.” What makes Paul happy? Let’s broaden that: What makes the Christian discipler, the pastor, the mentor, the parent, the teacher happy? God-established unities. 



Paul lists four of these unities in 2:2–the “like-minded,” the “same love,” “one in spirit,” and “one mind.” Monya Stubbs puts it all into a three-word package: “communal mental cohesiveness.”



Before we move on, a brief clarification. The NIV’s “one in spirit” surely misleads as much as it helps. 



The Greek expression, literally, is something like “co-souled” or “one-souled” or “together in soul.” It combines the term for with and the term psyche, which is often translated “soul.” The normal word for “spirit” or “Spirit” is not here. What Paul wrote says it all: he wants them to be co-souled, or together at the core of their very being, together in life’s basic principle for living.



But unity is not uniformity. 



We are not going to get everyone on the same page about the same concerns. We can’t get people to agree on songs or lengths of sermons or women preaching or the rapture or war or racial reconciliation or financial equities. The Bible’s not creating a dream world. It knows we don’t agree and wants us to strive for unity in the midst of differences. I can worship with someone who is either Democrat or Republican because unity in Christ transcends partisan politics.



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>I can worship with someone who is either Democrat or Republican because unity in Christ transcends partisan politics.</blockquote></figure>



The one-nesses in verse two are God-formed participations in Christ and the Spirit that yield capacities to live with one another’s differences in behaviors and attitudes and feelings. But this unity transcends differences. Yes, something needs to be heard because we easily miss it. 



Paul’s emphasis on equality and sameness horrified those intoxicated with the Roman system of upward mobility. A God-shaped unity empowers the believers to shed “selfish ambition” and “vain conceit” (or airheadedness), two habits of life that flourished in the lives of those committed to the ways of Rome. Bockmuehl cleverly describes them as “that strangely addictive and debasing cocktail of vanity and public opinion.”



The Christian solution is so un-Roman but it is just as un-American. God calls us to “humility,” a Christian virtue that turns the way of Rome upside down into valuing others above oneself. In that world humility was the same as humiliation. 



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>The Christian solution is so un-Roman but it is just as un-American.</blockquote></figure>



A Christlike and Spirit-given life opens up for us a way of life that turns away from our “own interests” to favor “the interests of others.” Paul speaks here into the world of vain-seeking glory in the public sector. 



He is not criticizing the need for a healthy self-image or denying the sacred importance of emotional, psychological boundaries. Tension between boundaries to protect ourselves and actions for the sake of others accompanies all genuine Christian living. Respecting the boundaries others have for themselves reflects what “the interests of others” actually means.



You may know what comes next in Philippians, and it is best to put this book down now to read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:1–11</a> straight through. We are done now with <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1%E2%80%934&amp;version=NIV">2:1–4</a> and Paul is about to write up an early Christian song about Jesus that becomes the paradigm of paradigms for how the Philippians were to live with one another in a most un-Roman of ways! 



The selfish tendencies of a Philippian life is challenged by the Christlike life, all visibly embodied in the life of Jesus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A5%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">2:5–11</a>). Think about it this way: kingdom citizens (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27%E2%80%9330&amp;version=NIV">1:27–30</a>) who are led by Christ in the Spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A1&amp;version=NIV">2:1</a>) can achieve a unity (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A2&amp;version=NIV">2:2</a>) by living like Christ (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A5%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">2:5–11</a>), that is, denying self-interest and thinking of the others (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A3%E2%80%934&amp;version=NIV">2:3–4</a>).



Easier said than done.







Questions for Reflection and Application



<ol type="1"><li>How does the Holy Spirit work in us to generate fellowship and community?</li><li>What is the difference between unity and uniformity in the church?</li><li>What has been your experience with church unity or church disunity? How have those experiences impacted you?</li><li>How is humility un-Roman and un-American?</li><li>McKnight writes about the tension between our boundaries to protect ourselves and the actions we take on behalf of others. How do you balance caring for yourself in healthy ways with also living a life of service to others?</li></ol>



The <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/examples-of-a-common-life-in-philippians-21-4/">Examples of a Common Life in Philippians 2:1-4</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this fifth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.





In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.
For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the fifth study, A Common Example | Philippians 2:1-4.
Therefore
if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love,
if any common sharing in the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being
like-minded,
having the same love,
being one in spirit and
of one mind.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.




Living in unity as a fellowship, or a common life together, is a great idea. Until you have to get along with someone you don’t like. It only takes a little while to encounter such a person. We cannot expect uniformity or consensus on everything, but we are to strive for an achievable unity.
The emphasis on a common life and unity in this short letter requires that we assume fractures and fissures had formed among the believers in Philippi, and Paul is urging them to transcend their divisions.
The apostle proposes in our verses a theological basis that appeals to the “affective faculties.” Just as Philippians 1:27–30 was one long sentence, so 2:1–4 is another one and a rather complex one at that.

Verse one is the If-clause and verses two through four are the then-clause: This “if” could be translated “since” or “supposing” or “assuming.” That is, assuming verse one to be the case, verses two through four should happen! That is, if you’ve got all these blessings then you can also achieve unity with one another. The translation above is reformat- ted to make the listing more visible.




If . . .
Notice that there are four terms here in verse one – ”encouragement,” “comfort,” “common sharing,” and the doubled expression “tenderness and compassion.” The “encouragement” and “comfort” result “from being united with Christ,” and the “common sharing” or fellowship, along with “tenderness and compassion,” derive from “the Spirit.” We can diagram it like this:
Encouragement and comfort in Christ. Common life, tenderness and compassion in the Spirit.
Verse one then describes what we get from God, that is, these items are God-given, emotionally experienced redemptive realities. They are not human virtues. They are palpable intimacies we feel in our relationship with Christ and the Spirit. Cohick observes that “The church’s life force is the breath of the Spirit, the blood of Jesus, the mind of Christ, the will of the Father.”
Let me then just jump ahead to get right to the point: 
If God is at work in you in Christ and in the Spirit, you can grow as well to experience unity’s virtues. 
The blessings of verse one, then, are not hard-earned moral accomplishments. They are instead grace-empowered, Christ-achieved, and Spirit-drenched acts of God in us.
. . . Then
If God is at work in you, Paul says, Make me happy! That is, “make my joy compete” or “fill me up with joy.” What makes Paul happy? Let’s broaden that: What makes the Christian discipler, the pastor, the mentor, the parent, the teacher happy? God-established unities. 
Paul lists four of these unities in 2:2–the “like-minded,” the “same love,” “one in spirit,” and “one mind.” Monya Stubbs puts it all into a three-word package: “communal mental cohesiveness.”
Before we move on, a brief clarification. The NIV’s “one in spirit” surely misleads as much as it helps. 
The Greek expression, literally, is something like “co-souled” or “one-souled” or “together in soul.” It combines the term for with and the term psyche, which is often translated “soul.” The normal word for “spirit” or “Spirit” is not here. What Paul wrote says it all: he wants them to be co-souled, or together at the core of their very being, together in life’s basic principle for living.
But unity is not uniformity. 
We are not going to get everyone on the same page about the same concerns. We can’t get people to agree on songs or lengths of sermons or women preaching or the rapture or war or racial reconciliation or financial equities. The Bible’s not creating a dream world. It knows we don’t agree and wants us to strive for unity in the midst of differences. I can worship with someone who is either Democrat or Republican because unity in Christ transcends partisan politics.

I can worship with someone who is either Democrat or Republican because unity in Christ transcends partisan politics.




The one-nesses in verse two are God-formed participations in Christ and the Spirit that yield capacities to live with one another’s differences in behaviors and attitudes and feelings. But this unity transcends differences. Yes, something needs to be heard because we easily miss it. 
Paul’s emphasis on equality and sameness horrified those intoxicated with the Roman system of upward mobility. A God-shaped unity empowers the believers to shed “selfish ambition” and “vain conceit” (or airheadedness), two habits of life that flourished in the lives of those committed to the ways of Rome. Bockmuehl cleverly describes them as “that strangely addictive and debasing cocktail of vanity and public opinion.”
The Christian solution is so un-Roman but it is just as un-American. God calls us to “humility,” a Christian virtue that turns the way of Rome upside down into valuing others above oneself. In that world humility was the same as humiliation. 

The Christian solution is so un-Roman but it is just as un-American.




A Christlike and Spirit-given life opens up for us a way of life that turns away from our “own interests” to favor “the interests of others.” Paul speaks here into the world of vain-seeking glory in the public sector. 
He is not criticizing the need for a healthy self-image or denying the sacred importance of emotional, psychological boundaries. Tension between boundaries to protect ourselves and actions for the sake of others accompanies all genuine Christian living. Respecting the boundaries others have for themselves reflects what “the interests of others” actually means.
You may know what comes next in Philippians, and it is best to put this book down now to read Philippians 2:1–11 straight through. We are done now with 2:1–4 and Paul is about to write up an early Christian song about Jesus that becomes the paradigm of paradigms for how the Philippians were to live with one another in a most un-Roman of ways! 
The selfish tendencies of a Philippian life is challenged by the Christlike life, all visibly embodied in the life of Jesus (2:5–11). Think about it this way: kingdom citizens (1:27–30) who are led by Christ in the Spirit (2:1) can achieve a unity (2:2) by living like Christ (2:5–11), that is, denying self-interest and thinking of the others (2:3–4).
Easier said than done.




Questions for Reflection and Application
How does the Holy Spirit work in us to generate fellowship and community?
What is the difference between unity and uniformity in the church?
What has been your experience with church unity or church disunity? How have those experiences impacted you?
How is humility un-Roman and un-American?
McKnight writes about the tension between our boundaries to protect ourselves and the actions we take on behalf of others. How do you balance caring for yourself in healthy ways with also living a life of service to others?




The New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Examples of a Common Life in Philippians 2:1-4 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

In this fifth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. […]
The post Examples of a Common Life in Philippians 2:1-4 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Examples of a Common Life in Philippians 2:1-4

By Tim Timberlake How do we trust God’s faithfulness through challenges, loss, grief, and hurt, the way heroes of faith did? Author and Pastor Tim Timberlake explores the lives of biblical heroes listed in the book of Hebrews to reveal how their stories teach us to overcome obstacles, deal with adversity, and trust God in [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/the-art-of-overcoming/">Heroes of Faith and The Art of Overcoming</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

By Tim Timberlake<img loading="lazy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72261" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280.png" alt="Tim Timberlake" width="280" height="280" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" />
How do we trust God’s faithfulness through challenges, loss, grief, and hurt, the way heroes of faith did? Author and Pastor Tim Timberlake explores the lives of biblical heroes listed in the book of Hebrews to reveal how their stories teach us to overcome obstacles, deal with adversity, and trust God in difficult times. 
Allowing faith to coexist with death experiences—everyday setbacks and disappointments, grief, pain, and hurt—is important because sometimes we try to use faith to avoid them when God is asking us to use faith to deal with them.
Instead of walking through death experiences with grace, we think we can believe, hope, trust, claim, quote, and pray our way out of them. When that doesn’t work, we blame ourselves for our lack of faith, or we get mad at God for not holding up his end of the deal, or we pendulum back and forth between the two.

If you think every bad thing that happens is because you didn’t have enough faith, you’re going to spend a lot of time feeling ashamed and condemned. Plus, what we are suffering from or what we have lost is only part of our story. Faith in God allows us to see difficult situations in their wider context: they are just one part of a complex, long, layered, beautiful life.
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11+&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Hebrews 11</a> lists numerous people from Israel’s history. For each one it says, “By faith so-and-so did such-and-such.” It’s easy to look at that list and think, Wow, those men and women were incredible. They believed, and God did miracles. Their faith was proved by their life.
But look at <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11%3A13&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">verse 13</a>: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”
They didn’t just live in faith; they died in faith, knowing that God is faithful in this age and in the age to come.
What if we stopped looking at our death experiences as a sign that we lacked faith, and instead looked at them as simply another way to walk by faith? What if we stopped thinking we somehow failed God and instead remembered we are following God?
That would change our whole perspective on loss, pain, and disappointment. It would change our perspective on ourselves too. We would give ourselves space to grieve and time to heal instead of hiding our pain or beating ourselves up over it.
Overcome By Letting Go
“Letting go” is easier said than done. It takes foresight and maturity to look beyond your present pain and realize something better is coming.
Many heroes of the Bible had to say goodbye to things they cared for deeply. We remember the victory at the end of their stories, but we often forget the emotional choices they made along the way to let go of a past or a dream or a relationship that needed to be laid to rest. Only then could they step into the future God was offering them.
Remember in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+22&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Genesis 22</a> when God asked Abraham to give up his son? Isaac was his only son, his promised son, his beloved son, the answer to decades of prayer and patience. God’s instruction must have felt like death to Abraham (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11%3A17-19&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Hebrews 11:17-19</a>). But he was willing to let go, and God applauded him for his faith and trust. In fact, the Bible calls him the father of all who believe.
Or how about when Moses tried and failed to deliver Egypt in his own strength, then fled to hide in the wilderness in fear and shame (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+2&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Exodus 2</a>)? I can only imagine the guilt and insecurity that must have plagued him for decades. Then, one day, God told him to go back.
Moses had more excuses than a teenager being told to clean his room, but God finally talked him into it. Moses had to let two things die: his idea of how Israel would be set free (control) and his feelings of failure (shame). When he let go of those, God used him to deliver Israel from Egypt (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11%3A24-28&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Hebrews 11:24-28</a>).
Ruth let go of her homeland and her own family (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth+1%3A16-17&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Ruth 1:16-17</a>). Hannah had to leave her son Samuel behind to grow up at the temple (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+1%3A22&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">1 Samuel 1:22</a>). Esther had to leave her adoptive uncle to move into the palace of a maniacal, pagan ruler (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+2%3A8&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Esther 2:8</a>). Jesus had to find comfort and healing after his cousin John the Baptist was killed (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+14%3A13&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Matthew 14:13</a>).
Mary had to say goodbye to her son on the cross (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19%3A26-27&amp;version=NIV&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">John 19:26-27</a>). I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Overcoming adversity is not just about what we get, but it’s also about what we give up.
These stories from the heroes of our faith should remind us that letting go is just as much a part of faith as holding on. We need to remove the stigma that is often attached to grief. What are we so embarrassed about? What are we so afraid of?
Closing a business, going bankrupt, or having a chronic illness doesn’t mean we are failures. Nor does it mean that we don’t have faith. These circumstances and others like them simply mean we are alive, and we are human, and we are normal, and we are moving forward.
There is a natural movement or trajectory to life, and what works for one season doesn’t necessarily work for the next. Losing, leaving, and laying to rest are necessary stages of growth. Nobody likes to lose, but if we can’t lose, we can’t gain either. We will just stay where we are, and that’s unnatural.
A lot of overcoming is simply moving forward, growing, and adapting as we go. It is leaving the past behind without bitterness or regret, but rather with honor, knowing what we had was important for a season, but that the season has ended. In other words, we learn to let things rest in peace without losing our peace.
Having faith in God doesn’t mean you never lose a job, loved one, or friendship. It means that even when you lose what you thought you couldn’t survive without, you keep living. You keep loving. You keep giving.
Your pain runs deep, but your faith runs deeper. Your circumstances have changed, but God hasn’t.
_________<a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-art-of-overcoming-letting-god-turn-your-endings-into-beginnings-1?variant=40910506229896&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72262" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-1.png" alt="The Art of Overcoming by Tim Timberlake" width="280" height="280" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-1.png 280w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-1-150x150.png 150w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tim-Timberlake_280x280-1-120x120.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" /></a>
Adapted from <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-art-of-overcoming-letting-god-turn-your-endings-into-beginnings-1?variant=40910506229896&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">The Art of Overcoming: Letting God Turn Your Endings Into Beginnings</a> by Tim Timberlake. <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-art-of-overcoming-letting-god-turn-your-endings-into-beginnings-1?variant=40910506229896&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">Click here</a> to learn more.
Life is full of everyday setbacks. In <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-art-of-overcoming-letting-god-turn-your-endings-into-beginnings-1?variant=40910506229896&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">The Art of Overcoming</a>, you will learn how to process these moments and triumphantly move beyond them.
The Art of Overcoming explores how we deal with loss, grief, and hurt, and challenges readers to keep what looks like endings from discouraging or derailing us. The pain we experience is real—but there&#8217;s a difference between acknowledging it and giving into it.
Rather than seeking a fake hope that pretends loss doesn&#8217;t exist or doesn&#8217;t matter, author and pastor Tim Timberlake encourages us to pursue hope rooted in God and gives this reminder: don&#8217;t quit! The process of overcoming is not about understanding everything or living without pain, but about finding healthy ways to process the scary, strange, and sometimes devastating circumstances we face.
The Art of Overcoming is divided into four parts, using the imagery of a traditional funeral ceremony as a framework to process the &#8220;death experiences&#8221; we face regularly in this crazy journey called life:
<ul>
<li>A Matter of Life and Death explores five foundational perspectives about grief and loss</li>
<li>The Processional encourages us to face head-on the reality of our experiences</li>
<li>The Eulogy helps us memorialize and honor what has been lost and how to process grief in a healthy way</li>
<li>The Recessional is about closure as we discover life after death and move forward</li>
</ul>
No matter what you&#8217;ve gone through or are in the middle of right now, better days are ahead. Let God heal your heart in His timing, take time to grieve what needs to be grieved, and then celebrate the new life God lays out before you.
Tim Timberlake is the lead pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida and Creedmoor, North Carolina.  He is a gifted communicator and teacher who has the ability to communicate to people from all walks of life. His sense of humor, combined with his in-depth Bible teaching, gives the listener and reader the tools to transform their lives from the inside out. Tim is graduate of the Pistis School of Ministry in Detroit, Michigan. He is an avid sports fan and a cultural thought leader.
<a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/the-art-of-overcoming-letting-god-turn-your-endings-into-beginnings-1?variant=40910506229896&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=bgblog_the_art_of_overcoming">The Art of Overcoming</a> is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/the-art-of-overcoming/">Heroes of Faith and The Art of Overcoming</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

By Tim Timberlake
How do we trust God’s faithfulness through challenges, loss, grief, and hurt, the way heroes of faith did? Author and Pastor Tim Timberlake explores the lives of biblical heroes listed in the book of Hebrews to reveal how their stories teach us to overcome obstacles, deal with adversity, and trust God in difficult times. 
Allowing faith to coexist with death experiences—everyday setbacks and disappointments, grief, pain, and hurt—is important because sometimes we try to use faith to avoid them when God is asking us to use faith to deal with them.
Instead of walking through death experiences with grace, we think we can believe, hope, trust, claim, quote, and pray our way out of them. When that doesn’t work, we blame ourselves for our lack of faith, or we get mad at God for not holding up his end of the deal, or we pendulum back and forth between the two.

If you think every bad thing that happens is because you didn’t have enough faith, you’re going to spend a lot of time feeling ashamed and condemned. Plus, what we are suffering from or what we have lost is only part of our story. Faith in God allows us to see difficult situations in their wider context: they are just one part of a complex, long, layered, beautiful life.
Hebrews 11 lists numerous people from Israel’s history. For each one it says, “By faith so-and-so did such-and-such.” It’s easy to look at that list and think, Wow, those men and women were incredible. They believed, and God did miracles. Their faith was proved by their life.
But look at verse 13: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”
They didn’t just live in faith; they died in faith, knowing that God is faithful in this age and in the age to come.
What if we stopped looking at our death experiences as a sign that we lacked faith, and instead looked at them as simply another way to walk by faith? What if we stopped thinking we somehow failed God and instead remembered we are following God?
That would change our whole perspective on loss, pain, and disappointment. It would change our perspective on ourselves too. We would give ourselves space to grieve and time to heal instead of hiding our pain or beating ourselves up over it.
Overcome By Letting Go
“Letting go” is easier said than done. It takes foresight and maturity to look beyond your present pain and realize something better is coming.
Many heroes of the Bible had to say goodbye to things they cared for deeply. We remember the victory at the end of their stories, but we often forget the emotional choices they made along the way to let go of a past or a dream or a relationship that needed to be laid to rest. Only then could they step into the future God was offering them.
Remember in Genesis 22 when God asked Abraham to give up his son? Isaac was his only son, his promised son, his beloved son, the answer to decades of prayer and patience. God’s instruction must have felt like death to Abraham (Hebrews 11:17-19). But he was willing to let go, and God applauded him for his faith and trust. In fact, the Bible calls him the father of all who believe.
Or how about when Moses tried and failed to deliver Egypt in his own strength, then fled to hide in the wilderness in fear and shame (Exodus 2)? I can only imagine the guilt and insecurity that must have plagued him for decades. Then, one day, God told him to go back.
Moses had more excuses than a teenager being told to clean his room, but God finally talked him into it. Moses had to let two things die: his idea of how Israel would be set free (control) and his feelings of failure (shame). When he let go of those, God used him to deliver Israel from Egypt (Hebrews 11:24-28).
Ruth let go of her homeland and her own family (Ruth 1:16-17). Hannah had to leave her son Samuel behind to grow up at the temple (1 Samuel 1:22). Esther had to leave her adoptive uncle to move into the palace of a maniacal, pagan ruler (Esther 2:8). Jesus had to find comfort and healing after his cousin John the Baptist was killed (Matthew 14:13).
Mary had to say goodbye to her son on the cross (John 19:26-27). I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Overcoming adversity is not just about what we get, but it’s also about what we give up.
These stories from the heroes of our faith should remind us that letting go is just as much a part of faith as holding on. We need to remove the stigma that is often attached to grief. What are we so embarrassed about? What are we so afraid of?
Closing a business, going bankrupt, or having a chronic illness doesn’t mean we are failures. Nor does it mean that we don’t have faith. These circumstances and others like them simply mean we are alive, and we are human, and we are normal, and we are moving forward.
There is a natural movement or trajectory to life, and what works for one season doesn’t necessarily work for the next. Losing, leaving, and laying to rest are necessary stages of growth. Nobody likes to lose, but if we can’t lose, we can’t gain either. We will just stay where we are, and that’s unnatural.
A lot of overcoming is simply moving forward, growing, and adapting as we go. It is leaving the past behind without bitterness or regret, but rather with honor, knowing what we had was important for a season, but that the season has ended. In other words, we learn to let things rest in peace without losing our peace.
Having faith in God doesn’t mean you never lose a job, loved one, or friendship. It means that even when you lose what you thought you couldn’t survive without, you keep living. You keep loving. You keep giving.
Your pain runs deep, but your faith runs deeper. Your circumstances have changed, but God hasn’t.
_________
Adapted from The Art of Overcoming: Letting God Turn Your Endings Into Beginnings by Tim Timberlake. Click here to learn more.
Life is full of everyday setbacks. In The Art of Overcoming, you will learn how to process these moments and triumphantly move beyond them.
The Art of Overcoming explores how we deal with loss, grief, and hurt, and challenges readers to keep what looks like endings from discouraging or derailing us. The pain we experience is real—but there’s a difference between acknowledging it and giving into it.
Rather than seeking a fake hope that pretends loss doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter, author and pastor Tim Timberlake encourages us to pursue hope rooted in God and gives this reminder: don’t quit! The process of overcoming is not about understanding everything or living without pain, but about finding healthy ways to process the scary, strange, and sometimes devastating circumstances we face.
The Art of Overcoming is divided into four parts, using the imagery of a traditional funeral ceremony as a framework to process the “death experiences” we face regularly in this crazy journey called life:
A Matter of Life and Death explores five foundational perspectives about grief and loss
The Processional encourages us to face head-on the reality of our experiences
The Eulogy helps us memorialize and honor what has been lost and how to process grief in a healthy way
The Recessional is about closure as we discover life after death and move forward
No matter what you’ve gone through or are in the middle of right now, better days are ahead. Let God heal your heart in His timing, take time to grieve what needs to be grieved, and then celebrate the new life God lays out before you.
Tim Timberlake is the lead pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida and Creedmoor, North Carolina.  He is a gifted communicator and teacher who has the ability to communicate to people from all walks of life. His sense of humor, combined with his in-depth Bible teaching, gives the listener and reader the tools to transform their lives from the inside out. Tim is graduate of the Pistis School of Ministry in Detroit, Michigan. He is an avid sports fan and a cultural thought leader.
The Art of Overcoming is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Heroes of Faith and The Art of Overcoming appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

By Tim Timberlake How do we trust God’s faithfulness through challenges, loss, grief, and hurt, the way heroes of faith did? Author and Pastor Tim Timberlake explores the lives of biblical heroes listed in the book of Hebrews to reveal how their stories teach us to overcome obstacles, deal with adversity, and trust God in […]
The post Heroes of Faith and The Art of Overcoming appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Heroes of Faith and The Art of Overcoming

In this fourth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/discover-the-secret-to-suffering-well-in-philippians-127-30/">Discover the Secret to Suffering Well in Philippians 1:27-30</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this fourth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.







<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="500" height="334" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27057"/></a></figure></div>



In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/philippians-and-1-2-thessalonians?variant=39991840473224">Philippians and 1 &amp; 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World</a>. For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201&amp;version=NIV">Philippians</a>. For this week, here is the fourth study, Our Common Life of Suffering | <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27-30&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 1:27-30</a>.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.</blockquote>



How do some people seem to be prepared to endure suffering for Christ? 







When I was a child, our church celebrated global missions with an annual conference. Every year we heard about someone suffering for the gospel. The stories were not only uplifting but challenging. Would I be willing to endure the same? I sometimes asked myself. I also heard stories from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which put suffering on the top tier of Christian experiences. 



As a college student I learned the stories of Dietrich Bonhoeffer under Hitler and Nelson Mandela under South African apartheid. Some are prepared because they have learned such stories and have witnessed suffering for the gospel. Suffering for Jesus was the way of the church in the earliest decades (and centuries).



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-72124" width="-313" height="-262" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png 940w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2-300x251.png 300w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2-768x644.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px" /></a></figure></div>



Paul’s persecution stories were known to the Philippians. But Paul’s instructions transcend storytelling, and his instructions are all formed into one very long sentence – yes, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27-30&amp;version=NIV">1:27–30</a> is one sentence in Greek. 



In fact, as Carolyn Osiek observes, this long sentence forms the core message of the entire letter. The message is that the Christian life is a “public act having social or community consequences,” including opposition that may lead to extreme consequences.



First, he begins at the beginning of all Christian living: become a King Jesus citizen. The NIV’s “conduct yourselves” translates the Greek word politeuomai, and if you stare at it, you can see it stands behind our word “politics.” 



My friend and colleague, <a href="https://www.seminary.edu/faculty/dr-nijay-gupta/">Nijay Gupta</a>, paraphrases it so well with “be good citizens of the gospel kingdom of Christ.” Such a claim to a King Jesus citizenship demoted a claim to Roman citizenship. Gupta describes what Paul meant with these claims:



<ol type="1"><li>The earth may be our home, but our commonwealth is heaven (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A20&amp;version=NIV">3:20</a>).</li><li>Our enemy is not the state or a party but sin.</li><li>We are called to be a light together.</li><li>And this heavenly commonwealth has higher standards for our behavior.</li></ol>



Bockmuehl describes it as a lifestyle that “is conceived as a deliberate, publicly visible, and . . . politically relevant” way of life. A kingdom worldview prepares a person to endure hardship for the kingdom, and that’s exactly what “worthy of the gospel of Christ” means.



Second, we are empowered to be kingdom citizens when we “stand firm in the one Spirit” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27&amp;version=NIV">1:27</a>). Now that’s a stunning expression. You may know that the Greek word for “Spirit” is pneuma, which can be translated as wind. 



Every Christmas season folks in our community have Santas and Angels and Elves that lay flat during the day but are filled with air in the evening. And they have lights. Paul’s image works similarly: the Spirit fills us up so much we can stand up for Christ as citizens of King Jesus. The “one” Spirit is the Spirit that brings us into a common life, a united front in a divided world.



Third, the image behind “striving together” suggests athletes training or competing with one another to achieve victory (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A27&amp;version=NIV">1:27</a>; notice the same term at <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A3&amp;version=NIV">4:3</a>). Instead of training for a laurel wreath, the Roman world’s gold medal, they are training in faithful allegiance to the gospel and its reward of the kingdom. Training like this produces fearless courage to live under King Jesus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A28&amp;version=NIV">1:28</a>).



A fourth element of their readiness to face whatever comes their way is a famous Christian irony. We find it in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A28&amp;version=NIV">1:28</a>. The experience of faithful endurance to opposition reveals its exact opposite, namely, that their opponents will meet God in judgment but the Philippian faithful “will be saved”! This element’s irony is underscored when Paul says in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A29-30&amp;version=NIV">1:29–30</a> that suffering is a gift from God because in suffering they join Paul who joins Jesus. 



Nothing was more Christian for those first believers than participating in the sufferings Christ himself suffered. It is not clear who these opponents are. However, that Paul connects their suffering to his could indicate they too are experiencing harassment from the Roman authorities. It must be stated as well, perhaps because we are insensitive at this point, that Paul is not endorsing suffering as redemptive. 



As Monya Stubbs puts it, Paul here “does not sacralize suffering.” No, rather, this suffering is the result of joining in what God is doing and experiencing the backhand of evil and injustice–all in a struggle to bring about God’s justice.







Questions for Reflection and Application



<ol type="1"><li>What is the core message of Philippians, summarized in this section of the letter?</li><li>What does it mean to be a good citizen of God’s kingdom, according to Nijay Gupta?</li><li>How does the Holy Spirit empower our Godly citizenship?</li><li>How does Paul connect the suffering of faithful followers with the suffering of Jesus?</li><li>How well prepared are you to endure suffering for Jesus? What could you do to become better prepared?</li></ol>







<a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/discover-the-secret-to-suffering-well-in-philippians-127-30/">Discover the Secret to Suffering Well in Philippians 1:27-30</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this fourth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.





In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World. For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking you through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the fourth study, Our Common Life of Suffering | Philippians 1:27-30.
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.




How do some people seem to be prepared to endure suffering for Christ? 




When I was a child, our church celebrated global missions with an annual conference. Every year we heard about someone suffering for the gospel. The stories were not only uplifting but challenging. Would I be willing to endure the same? I sometimes asked myself. I also heard stories from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which put suffering on the top tier of Christian experiences. 
As a college student I learned the stories of Dietrich Bonhoeffer under Hitler and Nelson Mandela under South African apartheid. Some are prepared because they have learned such stories and have witnessed suffering for the gospel. Suffering for Jesus was the way of the church in the earliest decades (and centuries).

Paul’s persecution stories were known to the Philippians. But Paul’s instructions transcend storytelling, and his instructions are all formed into one very long sentence – yes, 1:27–30 is one sentence in Greek. 
In fact, as Carolyn Osiek observes, this long sentence forms the core message of the entire letter. The message is that the Christian life is a “public act having social or community consequences,” including opposition that may lead to extreme consequences.
First, he begins at the beginning of all Christian living: become a King Jesus citizen. The NIV’s “conduct yourselves” translates the Greek word politeuomai, and if you stare at it, you can see it stands behind our word “politics.” 
My friend and colleague, Nijay Gupta, paraphrases it so well with “be good citizens of the gospel kingdom of Christ.” Such a claim to a King Jesus citizenship demoted a claim to Roman citizenship. Gupta describes what Paul meant with these claims:
The earth may be our home, but our commonwealth is heaven (3:20).
Our enemy is not the state or a party but sin.
We are called to be a light together.
And this heavenly commonwealth has higher standards for our behavior.




Bockmuehl describes it as a lifestyle that “is conceived as a deliberate, publicly visible, and . . . politically relevant” way of life. A kingdom worldview prepares a person to endure hardship for the kingdom, and that’s exactly what “worthy of the gospel of Christ” means.
Second, we are empowered to be kingdom citizens when we “stand firm in the one Spirit” (1:27). Now that’s a stunning expression. You may know that the Greek word for “Spirit” is pneuma, which can be translated as wind. 
Every Christmas season folks in our community have Santas and Angels and Elves that lay flat during the day but are filled with air in the evening. And they have lights. Paul’s image works similarly: the Spirit fills us up so much we can stand up for Christ as citizens of King Jesus. The “one” Spirit is the Spirit that brings us into a common life, a united front in a divided world.
Third, the image behind “striving together” suggests athletes training or competing with one another to achieve victory (1:27; notice the same term at 4:3). Instead of training for a laurel wreath, the Roman world’s gold medal, they are training in faithful allegiance to the gospel and its reward of the kingdom. Training like this produces fearless courage to live under King Jesus (1:28).
A fourth element of their readiness to face whatever comes their way is a famous Christian irony. We find it in 1:28. The experience of faithful endurance to opposition reveals its exact opposite, namely, that their opponents will meet God in judgment but the Philippian faithful “will be saved”! This element’s irony is underscored when Paul says in 1:29–30 that suffering is a gift from God because in suffering they join Paul who joins Jesus. 
Nothing was more Christian for those first believers than participating in the sufferings Christ himself suffered. It is not clear who these opponents are. However, that Paul connects their suffering to his could indicate they too are experiencing harassment from the Roman authorities. It must be stated as well, perhaps because we are insensitive at this point, that Paul is not endorsing suffering as redemptive. 
As Monya Stubbs puts it, Paul here “does not sacralize suffering.” No, rather, this suffering is the result of joining in what God is doing and experiencing the backhand of evil and injustice–all in a struggle to bring about God’s justice.




Questions for Reflection and Application
What is the core message of Philippians, summarized in this section of the letter?
What does it mean to be a good citizen of God’s kingdom, according to Nijay Gupta?
How does the Holy Spirit empower our Godly citizenship?
How does Paul connect the suffering of faithful followers with the suffering of Jesus?
How well prepared are you to endure suffering for Jesus? What could you do to become better prepared?





New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Discover the Secret to Suffering Well in Philippians 1:27-30 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

In this fourth posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. […]
The post Discover the Secret to Suffering Well in Philippians 1:27-30 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Discover the Secret to Suffering Well in Philippians 1:27-30

Written by Michael Williams My love for the Old Testament began in an unusual place. I was hundreds of feet below the North Atlantic on patrol in a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine when I first understood the gospel, placed my faith in Jesus Christ, and began reading the Bible. Most of the Bible is the [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/deeper-meanings-in-the-old-testament/">Deeper Meanings in The Old Testament</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

Written by Michael Williams



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright"><img src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/13162957/Michael-Williams.jpg" alt="Michael Williams"/></figure></div>



My love for the Old Testament began in an unusual place. I was hundreds of feet below the North Atlantic on patrol in a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine when I first understood the gospel, placed my faith in Jesus Christ, and began reading the Bible. Most of the Bible is the Old Testament, and Jesus himself said that the Old Testament Scriptures were all about him (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A44&amp;version=NIV">Luke 24:44</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+5%3A39&amp;version=NIV">John 5:39</a>). Studying the Old Testament seemed like a great way to start learning about the Bible and Jesus.







I soon realized that understanding the Old Testament might not be as easy as I had hoped. Suspecting there was more to the stories than I was grasping, I pursued academic study. I learned the original languages and began to see how the biblical authors used language in creative ways to add depth and power to their messages.



After my education, I taught Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern languages and literature for 24 years at Calvin Theological Seminary. One of my favorite courses invited students to search the creative ways biblical authors crafted their accounts to draw in readers and pack literary punch. Every year, we discovered a tactic that we had previously missed. This raised my understanding and appreciation for biblical literature to another level.



Most believers don’t have these opportunities to study biblical languages and cultural environment. And, when most biblical scholars write about these things, they often write for other biblical scholars. I wrote <a href="about:blank">30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning</a> to make these studies available for the wider church. The book shows how the message of the Bible is deepened for us by an appreciation for its literary techniques, cultural allusions, and theological focus on Jesus.







<h2>A Seemingly Ordinary Verse</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;For giving prudence to those who are simple&#8230;&#8221;<cite><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV">Proverbs 1:4</a></cite></blockquote>



The book of Proverbs provides an array of benefits to those are willing to internalize its wisdom. We are told that the proverbs will enable us to gain wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A2&amp;version=NIV">1:2</a>), and receive instruction in prudent behavior so that we can do what is right and just and fair (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A3&amp;version=NIV">1:3</a>). In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV">1:4</a>, we are told these proverbs will also give prudence to those who are simple. “Simple” is not an adjective most people would like to have ascribed to them. Those with even a modicum of self-esteem might conclude that this book was not written for them. But this conclusion would be based on a faulty understanding of the biblical meaning of the word “simple.”



<h2>But Wait, There&#8217;s More!</h2>



The Hebrew word translated as “simple” here does not have anything to do with mental acuity or even urbane sophistication. It refers instead to those who are inexperienced or untrained in the potentially dangerous ways of the world. Such people are overly trusting, naive, easily led astray, and probably have not been taken advantage of by others.



None of us is born with immunity from this. However, those who are simple—that is, those who are aware of and admit their vulnerability—have one characteristic that differentiates them from those described in Proverbs as “fools”: the simple are teachable. To all of us who are teachable, then, who acknowledge that we too are susceptible to the trickery of malicious opportunists, our verse offers “prudence.” But this word in our passage has a surprisingly significant meaning that is probably much deeper than you think it is.



<h3>Knowledge for Good or for Evil</h3>



In the context of the opening verses of Proverbs, prudence is presented as the antidote to simpleness. If the simple are those who are easily led astray and taken advantage of, then prudence is something that can prevent that from happening. We might describe prudence as “street smarts.”



The book of Proverbs, therefore, is offering us the means to develop an awareness of how things really work in everyday life, and how to live circumspectly in light of that knowledge. This knowledge is, however, amoral in itself. Its morality depends on how it is used. Consequently, the insight Proverbs gives us into the inner workings of the world and human beings can be used either for good or for evil.



<h2>A Surprising Connection</h2>



Through our deeper consideration of prudence, or street smarts, we also discover a hidden connection between our verse and the first appearance of evil in the world.



To understand this connection, we must note some details of the Hebrew underlying our English translations. The word “prudence” is a translation of the Hebrew word עָרְמָה (&#8216;ormâ) In Hebrew, words are formed around a base of three consonants. By adjusting the vowels, prefixes, and suffixes around these three consonants, different nuances of the word can be expressed. In the case of “prudence” in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV">1:4</a>, the three Hebrew consonants that communicate the basic meaning of the word are ע-ר- ם (ʿ-r- m). The vowels surrounding these consonants let us know that this word עָרְמָה (&#8216;ormâ) is a noun. By putting different vowels around these same three consonants, one can express the basic meaning of the word as an adjective.



<h3>Genesis 3:1</h3>



This is precisely what we find in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Genesis 3:1</a>, where the serpent in the garden of Eden is described as “more crafty [ עָרוּם ‘ārûm] than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” You probably noticed that the same three consonants are used in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Genesis 3:1</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV">Proverbs 1:4</a>: ע-ר- ם (ʿ-r- m). The only difference is that the vowels used to indicate the noun form of the word (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV">Prov 1:4</a>) are different from the vowels used to indicate the adjectival form of the word (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Gen 3:1</a>).



<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Genesis 3:1</a> is saying that the serpent had the same street smarts that the book of Proverbs offers its readers, but the serpent used that insight for evil instead of good. The book of Proverbs, on the other hand, wants its readers to use that knowledge for good. “Prudence” or “shrewdness,” therefore, is neither a positive nor a negative characteristic when considered by itself. It’s how that situational and interpersonal awareness is used that makes it positive or negative.



<h2>Be as Shrewd as Snakes</h2>



This reexamination of this verse helps us understand what Jesus meant when he gave instructions to his disciples before he sent them out with the gospel. He told them that, as they encountered those who would test them, they should “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt+10%3A16&amp;version=NIV">Matt 10:16</a>).



The connection between Jesus’s encouragement to be “as shrewd as snakes” and the shrewdness of the serpent in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Genesis 3:1</a> is supported by the Greek word Jesus used. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word used to describe the serpent is φρονιμος (phronimos). This is the same Greek word Jesus used in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt+10%3A16&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 10:16</a>!



Jesus’s words remind us that being his disciple does not mean closing our eyes to the realities of life. It means being keenly aware of those realities and using that awareness to advance the gospel of peace. Christian prudence is an ability to recognize and artfully sidestep the many traps set before us so that we can progress safely along the path of true life and invite others to join us on that path.



What a wonderful depth of meaning in the words of this passage! Our fresh insight into the meaning of these words helps us live out our Christian lives in a world full of dangers, which we can avoid with a little prudence, available in the book of Proverbs.



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<a href="blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning</a> contains easy-to-read chapters that focus on a verse or passage, and:



<ul><li>Examine its cultural, historical, linguistic, and/or theological context.</li><li>Explain how it is enhanced by the added context and perspective.</li><li>Provide questions to facilitate further reflection, study, and discussion.</li></ul>



Helping to bridge the gap between the academy and the church, this broadly accessible and edifying book will help Christians get more out of their Bible. This is an ideal small group, Bible study, or expository preaching resource.
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Michael Williams (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is Emeritus Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies at Calvin Theological Seminary, a member of the NIV Committee on Bible Translation, Chairman of the NIrV Committee, and author of many books, including How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens and Hidden Prophets of the Bible. His passion is to provide curious believers with knowledge of the Old Testament and its culture so that they may grow in their comprehension and appreciation of redemptive history and be adequately prepared to promote and defend the faith through word and action.



<a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/30-old-testament-passages-with-deeper-meaning-the-surprising-significance-of-seemingly-ordinary-verses?variant=40877291470984&amp;utm_source=bg&amp;utm_medium=bgblog&amp;utm_campaign=bg_blog_30passages">30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning</a> is published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/deeper-meanings-in-the-old-testament/">Deeper Meanings in The Old Testament</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

Written by Michael Williams

My love for the Old Testament began in an unusual place. I was hundreds of feet below the North Atlantic on patrol in a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine when I first understood the gospel, placed my faith in Jesus Christ, and began reading the Bible. Most of the Bible is the Old Testament, and Jesus himself said that the Old Testament Scriptures were all about him (Luke 24:44; John 5:39). Studying the Old Testament seemed like a great way to start learning about the Bible and Jesus.




I soon realized that understanding the Old Testament might not be as easy as I had hoped. Suspecting there was more to the stories than I was grasping, I pursued academic study. I learned the original languages and began to see how the biblical authors used language in creative ways to add depth and power to their messages.
After my education, I taught Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern languages and literature for 24 years at Calvin Theological Seminary. One of my favorite courses invited students to search the creative ways biblical authors crafted their accounts to draw in readers and pack literary punch. Every year, we discovered a tactic that we had previously missed. This raised my understanding and appreciation for biblical literature to another level.
Most believers don’t have these opportunities to study biblical languages and cultural environment. And, when most biblical scholars write about these things, they often write for other biblical scholars. I wrote 30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning to make these studies available for the wider church. The book shows how the message of the Bible is deepened for us by an appreciation for its literary techniques, cultural allusions, and theological focus on Jesus.




A Seemingly Ordinary Verse
“For giving prudence to those who are simple…”
Proverbs 1:4
The book of Proverbs provides an array of benefits to those are willing to internalize its wisdom. We are told that the proverbs will enable us to gain wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight (1:2), and receive instruction in prudent behavior so that we can do what is right and just and fair (1:3). In 1:4, we are told these proverbs will also give prudence to those who are simple. “Simple” is not an adjective most people would like to have ascribed to them. Those with even a modicum of self-esteem might conclude that this book was not written for them. But this conclusion would be based on a faulty understanding of the biblical meaning of the word “simple.”
But Wait, There’s More!
The Hebrew word translated as “simple” here does not have anything to do with mental acuity or even urbane sophistication. It refers instead to those who are inexperienced or untrained in the potentially dangerous ways of the world. Such people are overly trusting, naive, easily led astray, and probably have not been taken advantage of by others.
None of us is born with immunity from this. However, those who are simple—that is, those who are aware of and admit their vulnerability—have one characteristic that differentiates them from those described in Proverbs as “fools”: the simple are teachable. To all of us who are teachable, then, who acknowledge that we too are susceptible to the trickery of malicious opportunists, our verse offers “prudence.” But this word in our passage has a surprisingly significant meaning that is probably much deeper than you think it is.
Knowledge for Good or for Evil
In the context of the opening verses of Proverbs, prudence is presented as the antidote to simpleness. If the simple are those who are easily led astray and taken advantage of, then prudence is something that can prevent that from happening. We might describe prudence as “street smarts.”
The book of Proverbs, therefore, is offering us the means to develop an awareness of how things really work in everyday life, and how to live circumspectly in light of that knowledge. This knowledge is, however, amoral in itself. Its morality depends on how it is used. Consequently, the insight Proverbs gives us into the inner workings of the world and human beings can be used either for good or for evil.
A Surprising Connection
Through our deeper consideration of prudence, or street smarts, we also discover a hidden connection between our verse and the first appearance of evil in the world.
To understand this connection, we must note some details of the Hebrew underlying our English translations. The word “prudence” is a translation of the Hebrew word עָרְמָה (‘ormâ) In Hebrew, words are formed around a base of three consonants. By adjusting the vowels, prefixes, and suffixes around these three consonants, different nuances of the word can be expressed. In the case of “prudence” in 1:4, the three Hebrew consonants that communicate the basic meaning of the word are ע-ר- ם (ʿ-r- m). The vowels surrounding these consonants let us know that this word עָרְמָה (‘ormâ) is a noun. By putting different vowels around these same three consonants, one can express the basic meaning of the word as an adjective.
Genesis 3:1
This is precisely what we find in Genesis 3:1, where the serpent in the garden of Eden is described as “more crafty [ עָרוּם ‘ārûm] than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” You probably noticed that the same three consonants are used in Genesis 3:1 and Proverbs 1:4: ע-ר- ם (ʿ-r- m). The only difference is that the vowels used to indicate the noun form of the word (Prov 1:4) are different from the vowels used to indicate the adjectival form of the word (Gen 3:1).
Genesis 3:1 is saying that the serpent had the same street smarts that the book of Proverbs offers its readers, but the serpent used that insight for evil instead of good. The book of Proverbs, on the other hand, wants its readers to use that knowledge for good. “Prudence” or “shrewdness,” therefore, is neither a positive nor a negative characteristic when considered by itself. It’s how that situational and interpersonal awareness is used that makes it positive or negative.
Be as Shrewd as Snakes
This reexamination of this verse helps us understand what Jesus meant when he gave instructions to his disciples before he sent them out with the gospel. He told them that, as they encountered those who would test them, they should “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16).
The connection between Jesus’s encouragement to be “as shrewd as snakes” and the shrewdness of the serpent in Genesis 3:1 is supported by the Greek word Jesus used. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word used to describe the serpent is φρονιμος (phronimos). This is the same Greek word Jesus used in Matthew 10:16!
Jesus’s words remind us that being his disciple does not mean closing our eyes to the realities of life. It means being keenly aware of those realities and using that awareness to advance the gospel of peace. Christian prudence is an ability to recognize and artfully sidestep the many traps set before us so that we can progress safely along the path of true life and invite others to join us on that path.
What a wonderful depth of meaning in the words of this passage! Our fresh insight into the meaning of these words helps us live out our Christian lives in a world full of dangers, which we can avoid with a little prudence, available in the book of Proverbs.






30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning contains easy-to-read chapters that focus on a verse or passage, and:
Examine its cultural, historical, linguistic, and/or theological context.
Explain how it is enhanced by the added context and perspective.
Provide questions to facilitate further reflection, study, and discussion.




Helping to bridge the gap between the academy and the church, this broadly accessible and edifying book will help Christians get more out of their Bible. This is an ideal small group, Bible study, or expository preaching resource.
Michael Williams (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is Emeritus Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies at Calvin Theological Seminary, a member of the NIV Committee on Bible Translation, Chairman of the NIrV Committee, and author of many books, including How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens and Hidden Prophets of the Bible. His passion is to provide curious believers with knowledge of the Old Testament and its culture so that they may grow in their comprehension and appreciation of redemptive history and be adequately prepared to promote and defend the faith through word and action.
30 Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning is published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Deeper Meanings in The Old Testament appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Written by Michael Williams My love for the Old Testament began in an unusual place. I was hundreds of feet below the North Atlantic on patrol in a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine when I first understood the gospel, placed my faith in Jesus Christ, and began reading the Bible. Most of the Bible is the […]
The post Deeper Meanings in The Old Testament appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Deeper Meanings in The Old Testament

In this third posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/05/discover-the-secret-of-gospel-mission-in-philippians-112-26/">Discover the Secret of Gospel Mission in Philippians 1:12-26</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

In this third posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.





In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.
For twelve weeks, Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking your through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the third study, Our Common Life in Gospel Mission | Philippians 1:12-26.





12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.





Pressure applied to a person, whether physical or emotional or financial, often reveals character. Persecution, whether physical or social and status-shaming, puts a per- son in the dock to declare (or not) her allegiance to Jesus as the world’s true Lord and King. Instead of blaming others, instead of running to safety, and instead of going silent, the faithful believer confesses before her persecutors and says, “Jesus is the Lord. He is my Lord. And I will follow him.” Paul knew pressure. In fact, it is more than possible he had been in prison for four years. But, instead of pouting and moaning, he responded with bold confessions of the Lord Jesus. Remember back when Paul was first in Philippi? You might know the impact of that singular witness by Paul in prison. We call the impact the “Philippian Jailer,” as we read about him in Acts 16.
Pressure also reveals personality, and this passage is special among the Pauline letters for all its I’s and Me’s and My’s. (You might underline each one in the passage above.) However, he is not being self-centered. Rather, Paul lives in an honor-shame world where everyone knew their status location in society. Being in prison for being connected to a crucified Galilean man degraded one’s status. But Paul flipped the honor-shame script: what was degrading for the Romans was for Paul upgrading or honoring, and what was honoring among the Romans was degrading for the apostle. The whole letter in some ways turns on this flipped script. Paul’s “I” is actually “Christ.”









We Need Courage
Paul is sitting in prison where he awaits a trial and verdict. One was not sent to prison after but before one’s sentence in that world. One was in prison to await trial. We see this in Paul’s own life while in Caesarea Maritima (Acts 23–26). Paul experiences an entirely new perspective on sufferings that promotes his courage. He perceives that his imprisonment enabled him to “advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). How so? “It has become clear” or even “obvious” to the entire Roman Praetorian Guard, a massive group of soldiers who protected no less than the emperor (Nero), that his imprisonment is because of his witness “for Christ” (1:13). He’d done nothing other than tell people that Jesus is the Lord.
Paul turned his imprisonment in Philippi in his original mission there into an opportunity to gospel the inmates and authorities (Acts 16:19–34). He was doing the same thing again in Rome. It was the Pauline prison habit. Paul and Timothy knew the reality of opposition to the gospel, which meant the sting of rejection, the shame of verbal insults, and the wounds of persecutions. His witness in prison in Rome has made others “confident in the Lord” so that they “dare all the more” to tell others about the Lordship of Jesus (Philippians 1:14).
One suspects Paul is urging the Philippians to learn from this description of his own experience, and that is why he describes them inclusively as “brothers and sisters” or siblings (1:12). In the next passage he makes their common experience explicit: “since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had.”
Sibling language evokes equality and that we are all in this together. People are watching us. Our children absorb the patterns of our lives, our neighbors observe us, our workmates notice us, our church scans us, and the community watches our witness. Our fellow believers are encouraged by our courage and empowered by the power at work in us. They see that we don’t lash out but that we absorb opposition to the gospel as we walk in the way of the cross of Jesus. They notice that our rejections look like rejections of Christ.




We Know Our Message
In all that experience of suffering only one thing mattered: “Christ is preached” (1:18). In a few of his letters Paul clarifies what “gospel” means. First Corinthians 15:1–8 is the classic example, but so too one should read both Romans 1:2–4 and 2 Timothy 2:8.
The essence of the gospel is the story about Jesus that fulfills the promises of Israel’s story, and this Jesus is announced in the gospel. Correct that: announcing and talking about Jesus is gospeling! This Jesus is the King, the Messiah, the Lord, and the Savior, and as Savior he brings all the benefits of salvation (forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, transformation). Paul is in prison because of his “defense of the gospel,” that is, for what he was gospe- ling about Jesus (1:16).
As one who cares about Christian orthodoxy and faithfulness to the faith I can get a little anxious when Paul says that “some preaching Christ” do so in a quest for glory and honor (1:15) or they do so out of “selfish ambition” (1:17). Are they, I ask, truly preaching Christ? Anyone watching the current American church scene knows this happens. Sadly, some are inadvertently preaching the gospel as they tear apart the reputation of Paul (1:17).
It takes a big-hearted person to say, “Hey, they may not like me. They may oppose me. But they are at least telling people about Jesus!” Which is exactly what Paul says (1:18), and he who said this is one who wrote stinging words against those who were preaching a false gospel. In chapter three he will call false gospelers “dogs” and “evil workers” and “those who mutilate the flesh” (3:2 ESV). Strong disagreements to be sure! It’s hard to square up all these words.
When I scan the shelves of bookstores or read widely today on internet web pages and blogs, I observe wildly different messages. There are conservatives and progressives, both utterly convinced of their rectitude. There are Calvinists and Arminians and Baptists and Anglicans.
When I read Philippians 1:18 and mutter Paul’s question to myself, which was “But does it matter?” and know his answer is “Christ is preached,” I ask if my heart is big enough to stand with Paul. How about you? Sure, let’s cut this down in size to say, “What is claimed by others in the name of Christ still has to be consistent with the gospel.” Sure, I’ll sing harmony (or, I’ll at least try) with you on that one. But most of what we fight about on the internet is not whether or not we agree with Jesus being the North Star but what in many ways is peripheral and, to be frank, does not even matter.
What I return to in reading this passage is one simple observation: let’s concentrate our hearts and minds and souls on Jesus as the Lord and let everything be subsumed to that message. For some this sounds trite. I disagree. It is one of the greatest challenges of anyone preaching or teaching or leading to constrain what is said and done to what gives glory to Jesus.




We Can Have Joy
The word “joy” (or “rejoice”) has a habit of showing up in the New Testament when suffering and persecution also show up. You say “Persecution” and the early Christians cheer back with “Rejoice!” But theirs was not some kind of stoical endurance or some positive trick of the mind or some soul over body theory. Theirs was a fully embodied, emotional joy for the opportunity to walk with Jesus in the way of the cross.
Tom Holland (not the actor), in his magisterial romp through the history of how the modern world became more Christian than often recognized, in one chapter zeroed in on Lyons (in Gaul) in the days of Irenaeus. Of the Christians suffering persecution then he writes, “Whether gored by bulls, or savaged by dogs, or roasted on red-hot chairs of iron, they cried out only ‘the words they had repeated all along–the declarations of their faith.’” You say “Persecution” and they rejoice in the power of the resurrection. They could say this because they knew Jesus was with them, and they knew they were suffering with him. Amazingly they found joy in the midst of suffering.
His theme of joy hears another tone. The Philippians participate in his release from prison by their prayers (1:19). Even deeper than that, his joy and confidence are rooted in “God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” I like to point out that “provision” can be translated “orchestration” (Greek epichorēgia). The Philippians were praying, but the Spirit will orchestrate the release and more (“my deliverance”). Confidence in that invisible orchestration gave them joy, which means this joy is a confidence in the irresistible work of God. His expression “will turn out for my deliverance” echoes the words of Job  and “deliverance” evokes not only release from prison but ultimate vindication by God.




We Live in Hope
Christian hope is not simplistic “I hope so.” Hope is not so much utter certainty as it is confidence in the God who promises. Sufficient experiences have made Paul confidently hopeful of deliverance (1:25–26; 2:24). Perhaps his most confident claim of hope is to be found near the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:18 where, in prison again, he says “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom.” The translation in Philippians 1:20, “I eagerly expect,” is a little more precise than the original, which could be translated “according to [or consistent with] my eager expectation and my hope.” These two terms–expectation and hope–express the courage necessary for him to remain faithful in the face of persecution. He is so confident in his hope that he knows he will “in no way be ashamed” (1:20). That is, God will vindicate those faithful to the gospel, either in this life or in the next.
Whether he dies into the presence of God or survives, he just wants “Christ to be exalted in my body” (1:20). This is an amazing expression. He wants his body to glorify God because it is in the body that he hopes and witnesses to Christ. One of his most famous lines follows: “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21). Gerald Hawthorne tells us that Paul here lets us in on “the turmoil of his soul,” which the NIV in 1:23 translates as “torn between the two” options: if he does not survive the emperor’s judgment he will be with Christ; if he does, he will tell the world about Christ. Either way, it is all about Christ! Noticeably, so much was he aching to be with Christ–for him to see Jesus again–that he wasn’t sure which he wanted: death or life.
So he intuits–and I don’t know how else to explain his next words–that “I will remain” (1:25), that is, live on to minister the gospel so they can “progress” into Christlikeness. A wonderful image is used with this term “progress”: the term means “cut one’s way through something one hack at a time.” That image is tied to “joy” and both are formed “in the faith.” Paul seems to give himself quite the credit here for that progress. He says, “through my being with you again” and “on account of me” you Philippians will be boasting in Christ. The overall aim though gets it just right: Paul gets no credit. It all goes to Christ, but he does realize the importance of his giftedness and ministry at this time in their hacking way forward in Christian growth.




Questions for Reflection and Application
Hope and joy in this passage are more than simply spiritual states—they are real emotions. What role do joy and hope play in Paul’s life?





Paul turns shame into honor and prison into a gospel mission. How do you think Paul accomplished turning things upside down in his culture?





What is the gospel, according to McKnight?





Is your heart big enough to stand with Paul to say about those opposing you or those seeking selfish fame, “at least they are preaching Christ”? If not, what would it take for God to work that out in your heart?





How do true, emotional hope and joy function in your life in Christ?





New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Discover the Secret of Gospel Mission in Philippians 1:12-26 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

In this third posting, we are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. […]
The post Discover the Secret of Gospel Mission in Philippians 1:12-26 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Discover the Secret of Gospel Mission in Philippians 1:12-26

We are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. In this blog series, [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/04/discover-the-secret-of-community-in-philippians-11-11/">Discover the Secret of Community in Philippians 1:1-11</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

We are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published <a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.







<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="https://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/31142906/ScotMcKnight.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27057" width="410" height="274"/></a></figure></div>



In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: <a href="https://faithgateway.com/products/philippians-and-1-2-thessalonians?variant=39991840473224">Philippians and 1 &amp; 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World</a>.



Each week for the next 12 weeks Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking your through the full text of McKnight’s study on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201&amp;version=NIV">Philippians</a>. For this week, here is the second study, Our Common Life | <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+1%3A1-11&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 1:1-11</a>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will car- ry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.</blockquote>



Imagine two things as you read this passage.



First, imagine the first two verses written on the front of an envelope. Those verses inform us of the sender and address as our envelopes do today. Second, imagine someone reading this letter aloud to the house churches in Philippi – in fact, not just reading but performing the letter in such a manner that you suddenly find yourself thinking you see Paul and Timothy and not the person standing there reading it. It is the reader’s voice, but you hear Paul and Timothy.



Timothy often occurs at the top of Paul’s letters. Not only are you hearing them, but you are feeling every word of the letter because the reader has so mastered the letter that he’s (or she’s) not even looking at it. She’s (or he’s) memorized it and you know the reader is even adlibbing at times to make it all very clear just for you. To imagine this, you and I will have to remove ourselves from thinking this is the Bible being read.



We will have to remember this is an actual letter by actual authors sent and read to actual people in actual homes in the Roman colony Philippi, an utterly gorgeous colony not far from a decline down to the northern tip of the beautiful Aegean Sea.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-style-default"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png"><img loading="lazy" width="940" height="788" src="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-72169" srcset="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2.png 940w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2-300x251.png 300w, https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Phil-NTE-social-graphic-2-768x644.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px" /></a></figure>







Our Common Life



Paul and Timothy like the word “partnership,” which can be translated as “fellowship” or “friendship” or “sharing” or “partnership” or “common life” or “together.” The central idea is to participate with one another in a common life, which is a theme important to the entire letter. Lynn Cohick develops a linear thought process in this letter: God and our salvation in Christ leads to our life together in Christ. There’s that word “together.” In this letter we have a common life “in the gospel” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+1%3A5&amp;version=NIV">1:5</a>), in God’s grace (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+1%3A7&amp;version=NIV">1:7</a>), in the Spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2%3A1&amp;version=NIV">2:1</a>), in the sufferings of Christ (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+3%3A10&amp;version=NIV">3:10</a>), in the troubles Paul himself experienced (4:14), and the need to share in one’s provisions (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+4%3A15&amp;version=NIV">4:15</a>). It is indeed quite likely that the “partnership” of 1:5 also involved their providing financially for Paul’s mission work (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+9%3A15&amp;version=NIV">2 Corinthians 9:15</a>). All of this is what life together looks like.







Our Greetings



Believers in Jesus can greet one another in ways they can’t greet others. Notice how the authors identify themselves: “servants of Christ Jesus.” Actually the word is stronger so it’s worth running a line through your word “servant” and writing “slaves” above it. To call themselves slaves both locates them at the bottom of the status heap and affirms the intensity of their devotion to the Lord Jesus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A20&amp;version=NIV">1 Corinthians 6:20</a>). Oddly enough, in this common life to be a slave of Christ is to be at the top of the status heap. We will soon read that Jesus himself was a slave (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A7&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:7</a>)! Plus, some of God’s major leaders in the Bible used the term “slave” for themselves. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12%3A7&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 12:7</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+25%3A4&amp;version=NIV">Jeremiah 25:4</a>). With one another we know our relationship to Jesus: he is Lord, and we are but slaves of the Lord. Carolyn Osiek makes an important observation: “A slave’s status did not derive from the legal condition of slavery, but from the status of his or her owner, the slave’s own position, and its importance.”



For a Christian to be a slave of Jesus was to be owned by the Lord of all, and this would have given the Christian transcendent status. Lynn Cohick rightly counters the leadership craze of our culture with the terms Paul and Timothy use for themselves. They are not “leaders” or “vision casters” or “entrepreneurs” or “senior pastors” or “teaching pastors” but slaves together of the Lord Jesus.



They address their letter to “all,” not just the upper crust and inner wheels, “God’s holy people.” This does not mean these people are sinless, because the term “holy” means someone devoted to God and therefore no longer devoted to Rome and its gods, to the market and its monies, or to status growth in the Roman upward climb to honor and fame and glory and a monument on Main Street when you die. His wish for them is to know and to indwell in the special “grace and peace” that come our way only in the power of God the Father and in the “Lord Jesus Christ.” There’s some definite insider talk, but it all is set up for a major theme in this letter: fellowship or the common life together that believers in Jesus now have in Philippi.







Our Affections



The common life of Christians means reciprocating affections for one another.



So many think of Paul as some gruff old guy hobbling along, always in a hurry, from city to city along the Mediterranean barking out orders to one new church after another. Any reading of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A7%E2%80%938&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 1:7–8</a> reveals to the contrary a warm and fuzzy Paul! He says they hold him in his heart, like our saying “I heart you!,” and they together share in God’s abundant grace of redemption and love and transformation. They risk this new life together even though he is in prison in Rome for gospeling, and we might need to learn again that identifying with an imprisoned troublemaker does not make for friends with Philippi’s Rome-based authorities. In fact, they share a life in preaching the gospel. All this is in verse seven.



Then Paul goes fizzy in his fuzzy: “I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A8&amp;version=NIV">1:8</a>). His love for them is the kind of love that lays down one’s life for others. He learned the heart of a life together in the way Jesus lived (and we’ll see more of this in chapter two).



A common life entails affections in our relationships with one another, but this common life is more than the classical sense of friendship because (1) it is in Christ and (2) it transcends gender and status. Friendship in the Roman world was voluntary, between males especially, and was elitist. Paul never calls another believer “friend” because their relationship is deeper than friendship; they are siblings.







Our Prayers



Since Paul speaks so much in the first person we need to remind ourselves that Timothy was a co-author and not just a co-sender. After all, Timothy’s not just sitting there letting Paul make all the decisions. The letter is Paul’s voice but behind that voice were contributions from Timothy. The Philippians knew Timothy well: he was with Paul when the church was planted (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16%3A3%E2%80%934&amp;version=NIV">Acts 16:3–4</a>), and Paul is about to send Timothy to Philippi (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A19%E2%80%9323&amp;version=NIV">Philippians 2:19–23</a>).



A common life in Christ includes praying for one another.



We discover the theme of prayer in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A3%E2%80%93+6&amp;version=NIV">1:3– 6</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A9%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">1:9–11</a>. It’s not hard to exaggerate verse three: “I thank my God every time I remember you” can make us think Paul was thanking God for them every day all day long, but behind his “every time” is the common spiritual practice of praying what we today call the “hours of prayer.” That is, Jews prayed at sunset, at sunrise, and in the middle of the day. Three times a day. Every day. Except on the day of the funeral of one’s parents.



Three times a day Paul says he prayed for the Philippians. He prays “with joy.” When this was read to the churches in Philippi there were some smiles of pride about Paul’s affirmations. His joyful prayers are rooted in their common life commitment to the work of the gospel–preaching it and teaching it and living it and suffering for it–and his utter confidence in God’s powerful work of transforming the Philippian believers into people fit for the eternal presence of God. In spite of appearances, the work of God cannot be stopped.



We can learn how to pray for others in following the categories Paul uses for his intercessions for the Philippian believers. His prayers were not reducible to the “Bless Sarah and Sam” prayers we so often hear. No, he prayed specifically for profound transformations (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A9%E2%80%9311&amp;version=NIV">1:9–11</a>). As the Lord’s Prayer can be a model prayer for us, so this prayer can be a guide for all those ministering, mentoring, and parenting others.



First, he prays for their love to flourish (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A9&amp;version=NIV">1:9</a>). To “flourish” is not so much bigger and better as it is deeper and wider.



Second, he prays their love will flourish into “knowl- edge and depth of insight,” that is, into wise living (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A9&amp;version=NIV">1:9</a>). This flips the order for moderns who think first comes knowledge then comes love. Not so for Paul: love leads to a deeper knowing. N.T. Wright has often observed this order: “Ordinary human wisdom, ordinary human knowledge, is not just cancelled. It is taken up into something” and that “new ‘something’ is agape, love.&#8221;



Third, he prays their flourishing wise love will lead to profound discernment of how to live as believers in Philippi (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A10&amp;version=NIV">1:10</a>).



And fourth, following hard on this flourishing, wise, and discerning love, that the vines of their moral life will be loaded with the fruit of doing what is right–a kind of doing that can only be accomplished because of their common life participation in Christ (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A11&amp;version=NIV">1:11</a>). Notice how Paul’s petitions unfold:



<ul><li>Love</li><li>Flourishing</li><li>Wisdom</li><li>Discernment</li><li>Right-living</li><li>God’s glory!</li></ul>



Such an orderly unfolding set of prayers leads me to examine what I pray for when I pray for others. One leads to the next and the next and so on until it brings “glory and praise” to God, not to the believers, not to Paul and Timothy, and not to the “overseers and deacons” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A1&amp;version=NIV">1:1</a>), that is, supervisors (or mentors) and servants. That they single out these leaders cracks a door slightly on church order and pastoral care in Philippi and the importance they will have in explaining the letter.



A common life will include our greetings, our affections, and our prayers. And next we will see it involves mission.







Questions for Reflection and Application



<ol type="1"><li>What are some key elements of the “common life” together in Christian living as seen in Philippians?</li></ol>



<ul><li>How does Paul and Timothy calling themselves “slaves” run counter to today’s culture of church leadership?</li></ul>



<ul><li>What are the elements of Paul’s prayers for the Philippians?</li></ul>



<ul><li>Think about your relationships. Who in your Christian life has been to you like Timothy to Paul? Like Paul to Timothy? Like the Philippians to Paul, and vice versa?</li></ul>



<ul><li>Write a prayer for a beloved Christian friend or church community following Paul’s prayer model.</li></ul>







<a href="https://faithgateway.com/search?refinementList%5Bnamed_tags.Series%5D%5B0%5D=New%20Testament%20Everyday%20Bible%20Study%20Series">New Testament Everyday Bible Study</a> is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2023/04/discover-the-secret-of-community-in-philippians-11-11/">Discover the Secret of Community in Philippians 1:1-11</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/blog">Bible Gateway Blog</a>.

We are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application.





In this blog series, we’ll be sharing Scot’s insights and wisdom on the book of Philippians. It is available as a book as well: Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Kingdom Living in Today’s World.
Each week for the next 12 weeks Bible Gateway will publish a chapter from the Bible study book, taking your through the full text of McKnight’s study on Philippians. For this week, here is the second study, Our Common Life | Philippians 1:1-11
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will car- ry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.




Imagine two things as you read this passage.
First, imagine the first two verses written on the front of an envelope. Those verses inform us of the sender and address as our envelopes do today. Second, imagine someone reading this letter aloud to the house churches in Philippi – in fact, not just reading but performing the letter in such a manner that you suddenly find yourself thinking you see Paul and Timothy and not the person standing there reading it. It is the reader’s voice, but you hear Paul and Timothy.
Timothy often occurs at the top of Paul’s letters. Not only are you hearing them, but you are feeling every word of the letter because the reader has so mastered the letter that he’s (or she’s) not even looking at it. She’s (or he’s) memorized it and you know the reader is even adlibbing at times to make it all very clear just for you. To imagine this, you and I will have to remove ourselves from thinking this is the Bible being read.
We will have to remember this is an actual letter by actual authors sent and read to actual people in actual homes in the Roman colony Philippi, an utterly gorgeous colony not far from a decline down to the northern tip of the beautiful Aegean Sea.





Our Common Life
Paul and Timothy like the word “partnership,” which can be translated as “fellowship” or “friendship” or “sharing” or “partnership” or “common life” or “together.” The central idea is to participate with one another in a common life, which is a theme important to the entire letter. Lynn Cohick develops a linear thought process in this letter: God and our salvation in Christ leads to our life together in Christ. There’s that word “together.” In this letter we have a common life “in the gospel” (1:5), in God’s grace (1:7), in the Spirit (2:1), in the sufferings of Christ (3:10), in the troubles Paul himself experienced (4:14), and the need to share in one’s provisions (4:15). It is indeed quite likely that the “partnership” of 1:5 also involved their providing financially for Paul’s mission work (2 Corinthians 9:15). All of this is what life together looks like.




Our Greetings
Believers in Jesus can greet one another in ways they can’t greet others. Notice how the authors identify themselves: “servants of Christ Jesus.” Actually the word is stronger so it’s worth running a line through your word “servant” and writing “slaves” above it. To call themselves slaves both locates them at the bottom of the status heap and affirms the intensity of their devotion to the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20). Oddly enough, in this common life to be a slave of Christ is to be at the top of the status heap. We will soon read that Jesus himself was a slave (Philippians 2:7)! Plus, some of God’s major leaders in the Bible used the term “slave” for themselves. (Numbers 12:7; Jeremiah 25:4). With one another we know our relationship to Jesus: he is Lord, and we are but slaves of the Lord. Carolyn Osiek makes an important observation: “A slave’s status did not derive from the legal condition of slavery, but from the status of his or her owner, the slave’s own position, and its importance.”
For a Christian to be a slave of Jesus was to be owned by the Lord of all, and this would have given the Christian transcendent status. Lynn Cohick rightly counters the leadership craze of our culture with the terms Paul and Timothy use for themselves. They are not “leaders” or “vision casters” or “entrepreneurs” or “senior pastors” or “teaching pastors” but slaves together of the Lord Jesus.
They address their letter to “all,” not just the upper crust and inner wheels, “God’s holy people.” This does not mean these people are sinless, because the term “holy” means someone devoted to God and therefore no longer devoted to Rome and its gods, to the market and its monies, or to status growth in the Roman upward climb to honor and fame and glory and a monument on Main Street when you die. His wish for them is to know and to indwell in the special “grace and peace” that come our way only in the power of God the Father and in the “Lord Jesus Christ.” There’s some definite insider talk, but it all is set up for a major theme in this letter: fellowship or the common life together that believers in Jesus now have in Philippi.




Our Affections
The common life of Christians means reciprocating affections for one another.
So many think of Paul as some gruff old guy hobbling along, always in a hurry, from city to city along the Mediterranean barking out orders to one new church after another. Any reading of Philippians 1:7–8 reveals to the contrary a warm and fuzzy Paul! He says they hold him in his heart, like our saying “I heart you!,” and they together share in God’s abundant grace of redemption and love and transformation. They risk this new life together even though he is in prison in Rome for gospeling, and we might need to learn again that identifying with an imprisoned troublemaker does not make for friends with Philippi’s Rome-based authorities. In fact, they share a life in preaching the gospel. All this is in verse seven.
Then Paul goes fizzy in his fuzzy: “I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus” (1:8). His love for them is the kind of love that lays down one’s life for others. He learned the heart of a life together in the way Jesus lived (and we’ll see more of this in chapter two).
A common life entails affections in our relationships with one another, but this common life is more than the classical sense of friendship because (1) it is in Christ and (2) it transcends gender and status. Friendship in the Roman world was voluntary, between males especially, and was elitist. Paul never calls another believer “friend” because their relationship is deeper than friendship; they are siblings.




Our Prayers
Since Paul speaks so much in the first person we need to remind ourselves that Timothy was a co-author and not just a co-sender. After all, Timothy’s not just sitting there letting Paul make all the decisions. The letter is Paul’s voice but behind that voice were contributions from Timothy. The Philippians knew Timothy well: he was with Paul when the church was planted (Acts 16:3–4), and Paul is about to send Timothy to Philippi (Philippians 2:19–23).
A common life in Christ includes praying for one another.
We discover the theme of prayer in 1:3– 6 and 1:9–11. It’s not hard to exaggerate verse three: “I thank my God every time I remember you” can make us think Paul was thanking God for them every day all day long, but behind his “every time” is the common spiritual practice of praying what we today call the “hours of prayer.” That is, Jews prayed at sunset, at sunrise, and in the middle of the day. Three times a day. Every day. Except on the day of the funeral of one’s parents.
Three times a day Paul says he prayed for the Philippians. He prays “with joy.” When this was read to the churches in Philippi there were some smiles of pride about Paul’s affirmations. His joyful prayers are rooted in their common life commitment to the work of the gospel–preaching it and teaching it and living it and suffering for it–and his utter confidence in God’s powerful work of transforming the Philippian believers into people fit for the eternal presence of God. In spite of appearances, the work of God cannot be stopped.
We can learn how to pray for others in following the categories Paul uses for his intercessions for the Philippian believers. His prayers were not reducible to the “Bless Sarah and Sam” prayers we so often hear. No, he prayed specifically for profound transformations (1:9–11). As the Lord’s Prayer can be a model prayer for us, so this prayer can be a guide for all those ministering, mentoring, and parenting others.
First, he prays for their love to flourish (1:9). To “flourish” is not so much bigger and better as it is deeper and wider.
Second, he prays their love will flourish into “knowl- edge and depth of insight,” that is, into wise living (1:9). This flips the order for moderns who think first comes knowledge then comes love. Not so for Paul: love leads to a deeper knowing. N.T. Wright has often observed this order: “Ordinary human wisdom, ordinary human knowledge, is not just cancelled. It is taken up into something” and that “new ‘something’ is agape, love.”
Third, he prays their flourishing wise love will lead to profound discernment of how to live as believers in Philippi (1:10).
And fourth, following hard on this flourishing, wise, and discerning love, that the vines of their moral life will be loaded with the fruit of doing what is right–a kind of doing that can only be accomplished because of their common life participation in Christ (1:11). Notice how Paul’s petitions unfold:
Love
Flourishing
Wisdom
Discernment
Right-living
God’s glory!




Such an orderly unfolding set of prayers leads me to examine what I pray for when I pray for others. One leads to the next and the next and so on until it brings “glory and praise” to God, not to the believers, not to Paul and Timothy, and not to the “overseers and deacons” (1:1), that is, supervisors (or mentors) and servants. That they single out these leaders cracks a door slightly on church order and pastoral care in Philippi and the importance they will have in explaining the letter.
A common life will include our greetings, our affections, and our prayers. And next we will see it involves mission.




Questions for Reflection and Application
What are some key elements of the “common life” together in Christian living as seen in Philippians?





How does Paul and Timothy calling themselves “slaves” run counter to today’s culture of church leadership?





What are the elements of Paul’s prayers for the Philippians?





Think about your relationships. Who in your Christian life has been to you like Timothy to Paul? Like Paul to Timothy? Like the Philippians to Paul, and vice versa?





Write a prayer for a beloved Christian friend or church community following Paul’s prayer model.





New Testament Everyday Bible Study is published by HarperCollins Resources, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
The post Discover the Secret of Community in Philippians 1:1-11 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

We are continuing the blog series with content from biblical scholar Scot McKnight. McKnight has recently published New Testament Everyday Bible Study series with HarperChristian Resources. McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides original meaning, fresh interpretation, and practical application. In this blog series, […]
The post Discover the Secret of Community in Philippians 1:1-11 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Discover the Secret of Community in Philippians 1:1-11

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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-already-have-a-logos-package">If you already have a Logos package</h2>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-upgrade-only-your-features">2. Upgrade only your features</h3>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-upgrade-only-your-library">3. Upgrade only your library</h3>



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<div class="wp-block-image">
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="no-package">If you don’t have Logos</h2>



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-logos-packages">What are Logos packages?</h4>



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-are-they-worth-getting">Why are they worth getting?</h4>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-choose-a-package">How to choose a package</h3>



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<ul><li>Try the Logos recommendations assistant.<a href="https://www.logos.com/help-me-choose-package?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=options&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch"> Answer a few questions</a> about your budget and how you want to study the Bible, and we’ll suggest a package to match.<a href="https://www.logos.com/help-me-choose-package"> </a></li><li>Compare all our packages. Visit<a href="https://www.logos.com/compare/packages?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=options&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch"> logos.com/compare/packages</a> to see how different packages stack up.</li><li>Talk to a resource expert. Give us a call at (888) 875-9491. We’ll answer any questions you have and walk you through your options. </li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-subscribe-to-preaching-suite">2. Subscribe to Preaching Suite</h2>



<a href="https://www.logos.com/preaching-suite#packages?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=options&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch">Preaching Suite</a> is—you guessed it—especially for preachers. But even if you’re not a preacher, it’s worth considering if you’re on a tight budget. 



Subscription options start at $9.99/month and include features and resources to help you study the Bible. Here are a few from <a href="https://www.logos.com/product/206564/preaching-suite-essentials" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Preaching Suite Essentials</a>:



<ul><li>ESV Expository Commentary, New Testament</li><li>The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott</li><li>Workflows for basic Bible study, expository sermon preparation, and topical sermon preparation</li><li>Lexham Survey of Theology</li><li>Theology Guide</li></ul>



Note that many new Logos 10 features like text-to-speech, the print library catalog, and auto translation are not included with Preaching Suite.&nbsp;



Expanded <a href="https://www.logos.com/features/factbook" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Factbook</a> tags, faster speed, simpler user interface, improved Sermon Builder, and the new Bryan Chapell Christ-Centered Sermon Preparation <a href="https://www.logos.com/features/workflows" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Workflow</a> are included. Since it’s a subscription, your access will last as long as you’re subscribed, and you can cancel anytime.



You can start a fourteen-day free trial from <a href="https://www.logos.com/preaching-suite#packages" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this page</a>.



Tip: Depending on how you’ll use Logos, <a href="http://logos.com/compare-packages" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">choosing a package</a> and a <a href="https://logos.com/payment-options" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">payment plan</a> may be the better option for you in the long run—since any package you buy will be yours forever. That’s especially true while the 15% new customer launch discount is available.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="https://www.logos.com/grow/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/In-Cart-Dynamic-Pricing-1.mp4" playsinline></video></figure>



***



Need more info before making your decision? Get an overview of <a href="http://logos.com/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">what’s new in Logos</a> or give one of our resource experts a call at (888) 875-9491.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://logos.com/martin-test-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/63053281/assets/13854117/content.png?signature=ZsjU9y_UurtHLOF2K8GNBDf2Bzk" alt="Which Logos Option Fits You Best? Find out"/></a></figure></div>

Logos 10 has arrived! New and improved features help you dig deeper into the Word, faster.
Logos user Richard W. says, “Logos 10 is faster, sleeker, and packed with even more powerful tools to help make the study of God’s Word easier and more enjoyable.”
We want that to be true for everyone—even if you’re on a tight budget for Bible study tools. (That’s why we have payment plans.) So whether you’re new to Logos or you’ve loved it for decades, read on for all your options.
Before you start, though, answer this one question:
“Do you already have a Logos package?”
If you do, keep reading. 
If you don’t already have a Logos package, skip to “If you don’t have a Logos package.”
If you already have a Logos package
No matter which upgrade you choose—or even if you don’t upgrade to Logos 10—you’ll keep all the books and features you currently have. No action needed, nothing to worry about.
If you’d like to upgrade, here’s how:
1. Get a Logos 10 complete upgrade (features + books)
For a complete upgrade, choose a Logos 10 full package. With that package, you get:
New features (take a look)
New books from the Logos package you choose (e.g., Logos 10 Gold)




To see the differences between package levels, check out this comparison chart. 
Now’s the best time to choose your package because you’ll get 30% off your first complete Logos 10 upgrade. And here’s a “hack” to help you get your dream library—that 30% off your first complete upgrade applies even if you’re buying multiple packages (e.g., Logos Silver, Logos Lutheran Silver, etc.). Add the packages to your cart, and you’ll see your new total with in-cart Dynamic Pricing. Here’s one example of how it could look for someone who already owns Logos 9 Platinum and a few other resources: 
Logos 10 Platinum on its own would be $739.49.
Logos 10 Anglican Platinum on its own would be $903.96.
When both are added to this user’s cart, the total is only $1,218.46 instead of $1,643.45.




As always, you’ll only pay for what you don’t already own. 
Sign in and add packages to see your Dynamic Pricing on all Logos 10 complete upgrades—and snag the launch discount while it lasts.
2. Upgrade only your features
If you’re not ready to upgrade your library by buying a complete package, you can still get all the new Logos 10 features with a feature upgrade. These give you the power of Logos 10 with the books you currently own. And, of course, you’ll also keep all your current features.
Feature upgrades now come in four levels. 
Want all the new features? The Full Feature Upgrade is for you. 
You can compare feature upgrades here, but here are a few highlights, new features only:
Starter includes Ridley Rosner’s Regular Reading Workflow, Sarah Haggerty’s Adoration Workflow, and increased access to church history.
Bronze includes the updated Timeline and read aloud/text-to-speech on mobile.
Silver includes auto translation on the web app and Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Sermon Preparation Workflow.




For each level you step up (e.g., from Starter to Bronze), you get all the features of the level you’re buying and the previous level(s).
Since you’ll only pay for features you don’t already have, sign in to see your Dynamic Pricing. You could see significant savings! For example, if you own Logos 9 Silver, a Logos 10 Silver Feature Upgrade would be around $170 rather than the regular price of $799.99 because of Dynamic Pricing.
3. Upgrade only your library
This option is for you if:
1. You’ve already bought (or have access to) a Logos 10 Full Feature Upgrade, and now you’d like more books. 
2. You’ve already purchased a Logos 10 package, and now you’d like more books.
If that describes you, upgrade just your library. 
1. If you’ve bought a Logos 10 Full Feature Upgrade, the price of all features will be subtracted from the cost of the package, so you’ll only pay for books you don’t already own.
2. If you’ve purchased a Logos 10 package, the price of all features and books you own will be subtracted from the cost of the package. So if you only want new books, select the same level of package you already purchased. (For example, if you bought Logos 10 Bronze, purchasing Logos 10 Charismatic Bronze will add only new books to your library.) 
Buying in packages like this means you’ll save around 90% compared to the cost of buying books individually. Then, you’ll save even more because you probably already own some of the books. Because of Dynamic Pricing, you won’t be paying for those again. 
Sign in to see the custom price for your library upgrade. 
*** 
We’re only a phone call away if you need any help choosing! Reach out to us at (888) 875-9491.

If you don’t have Logos
1. Buy a Logos package
What are Logos packages?
A package is two things that work together: features and resources.
Features are Logos’ powerful tools helping you find insights in the Word faster.
You can get a smaller set of features with Logos 10 Starter and Bronze, or get more features to power your study with Logos 10 Silver, Gold, or above.
Resources are the books, courses, and other kinds of information those features rely on to deliver insights. The size and value of the libraries grow as you move through package levels. When you purchase a package, the resources are yours to keep and use on all your Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.
Why are they worth getting?
The gist of it is:
You can study the Bible better. Ultimately, this is the reason to buy Logos—to dig into God’s Word at incredible depth, with unmatched accuracy and at lightning-fast speed. Learn how you can do that with Logos 10.
You get the latest Logos tools and a brand-new library. With one purchase, you know you have the most powerful version of Logos, plus a library curated to power those new features.
You get started in the most cost-effective way. On average, packages save you 90% when compared to purchasing books and features individually. And right now, new purchasers get 15% off any package
You only go up from here. You’re investing in a tool you can use and add to for years to come (and even pass on to future generations). And because of Dynamic Pricing, you never pay for the same book or feature twice. We automatically take into account what you already own and adjust your price accordingly.




How to choose a package
Try one of the methods below—or all! 
Try the Logos recommendations assistant. Answer a few questions about your budget and how you want to study the Bible, and we’ll suggest a package to match. 
Compare all our packages. Visit logos.com/compare/packages to see how different packages stack up.
Talk to a resource expert. Give us a call at (888) 875-9491. We’ll answer any questions you have and walk you through your options. 




2. Subscribe to Preaching Suite
Preaching Suite is—you guessed it—especially for preachers. But even if you’re not a preacher, it’s worth considering if you’re on a tight budget. 
Subscription options start at $9.99/month and include features and resources to help you study the Bible. Here are a few from Preaching Suite Essentials:
ESV Expository Commentary, New Testament
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott
Workflows for basic Bible study, expository sermon preparation, and topical sermon preparation
Lexham Survey of Theology
Theology Guide




Note that many new Logos 10 features like text-to-speech, the print library catalog, and auto translation are not included with Preaching Suite. 
Expanded Factbook tags, faster speed, simpler user interface, improved Sermon Builder, and the new Bryan Chapell Christ-Centered Sermon Preparation Workflow are included. Since it’s a subscription, your access will last as long as you’re subscribed, and you can cancel anytime.
You can start a fourteen-day free trial from this page.
Tip: Depending on how you’ll use Logos, choosing a package and a payment plan may be the better option for you in the long run—since any package you buy will be yours forever. That’s especially true while the 15% new customer launch discount is available. 




***
Need more info before making your decision? Get an overview of what’s new in Logos or give one of our resource experts a call at (888) 875-9491.

Logos 10 has arrived! New and improved features help you dig deeper into the Word, faster. Logos user Richard W. says, “Logos 10 is faster, sleeker, and packed with even more powerful tools to help make the study of God’s Word easier and more enjoyable.” We want that to be true for everyone—even if you’re […]

How to Get Logos 10: Your Options Explained

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="woman at desk looking at Logos 10 Bible app packages" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Logos 10 has arrived! The new and improved version is simpler to use so that everyday Christians, small group leaders, students, professors, and pastors can easily uncover insights in the Word of God.&#160; Here are few highlights we’re particularly excited about: Faster performance (like, a lot faster on every device) A brand-new interface that puts [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="woman at desk looking at Logos 10 Bible app packages" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Woman-at-laptop-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<a href="http://logos.com/10?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Logos 10 has arrived</a>! The new and improved version is simpler to use so that everyday Christians, small group leaders, students, professors, and pastors can easily uncover insights in the Word of God.&nbsp;



Here are few highlights we’re particularly excited about:



<ul><li>Faster performance (like, a lot faster on every device)</li><li>A brand-new interface that puts the focus on your Bible study</li><li>A simplified search experience for your entire library—even print books</li><li>Text-to-speech so you can listen to your books on mobile</li><li>Sermon importing from Microsoft Word</li></ul>



Take a closer look <a href="http://logos.com/10?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">right here</a> or watch the launch event below to see more. Logos will also be hosting <a href="https://www.logos.com/logos-webinars?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch">webinars</a> digging deeper into what’s new and how to use it.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Live in the Word: Logos 10 is Here" width="716" height="403" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vWA9zRfUSXo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-people-are-saying-about-logos-10">What people are saying about Logos 10</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">I’ve seen some dramatic improvements to the mobile platform. I loved that I could carry my library with me wherever I went. But now, it has become a much more useful tool to write Bible studies and sermons. —Pastor Randy O.</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">If I were to describe the difference between Logos 9 and Logos 10, it would be “Bible study faster and deeper.” —Tim H.</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Logos 10 has a clear new look and a streamlined and improved experience for most everything you do. It’s the little things that affect everyday use that make this upgrade a good one. —Jacob H.&nbsp;</blockquote>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-package-options">Package options</h2>



<a href="https://logos.com/compare/packages?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch">Take a look</a>:



<ul><li>Make sure you’re signed in so you can see your special Dynamic Pricing.&nbsp;</li><li>With the launch discount, current package owners will save 30% on their first <a href="https://logos.com/compare/packages?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">upgrade to Logos 10</a>, even when buying multiple packages at once (e.g., Logos 10 Gold and Logos 10 Anglican Silver).&nbsp;</li><li>Those buying a package for the first time will save 15% on any package.</li><li>If you’re interested in more than one package, add them all to your cart to see your custom price with Dynamic Pricing applied in the cart. (It keeps you from paying twice for the same features or resources.)&nbsp;</li></ul>



Pssst: You might want to bookmark this page! We&#8217;ll be exploring Logos 10 in the coming weeks. As we do, we’ll add links to new articles here for easy access.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Related articles</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/logos-10-buying-options/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Get Logos 10: Your Options Explained</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/new-toolbar-logos-10/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Toolbar in Logos 10</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/logos-10-faster/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Logos 10 Is Faster and Can Now Search Your Print Books</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/10-day-bible-study-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10-Day Bible Study Challenge: Living in the Word with Logos</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/logos-10-libraries/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What&#8217;s New in Logos 10 Libraries?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/print-books-logos-10/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Use Your Print Books Like It&#8217;s 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/min-new-sermon-imports-from-word/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sermon Manager Levels Up with New Sermon Imports from Word</a></li><li><a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/get-logos-10-features/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Nab All Logos 10 Features (&amp; No New Library)</a></li></ul>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://logos.com/10?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=here&amp;utm_campaign=l10launch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.logos.com/grow/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/L10-Launch-Promo_Blog_Phase-1_CTA_1-1-620x155.png" alt="" class="wp-image-122608"/></a></figure></div>

Logos 10 has arrived! The new and improved version is simpler to use so that everyday Christians, small group leaders, students, professors, and pastors can easily uncover insights in the Word of God. 
Here are few highlights we’re particularly excited about:
Faster performance (like, a lot faster on every device)
A brand-new interface that puts the focus on your Bible study
A simplified search experience for your entire library—even print books
Text-to-speech so you can listen to your books on mobile
Sermon importing from Microsoft Word




Take a closer look right here or watch the launch event below to see more. Logos will also be hosting webinars digging deeper into what’s new and how to use it.






What people are saying about Logos 10
I’ve seen some dramatic improvements to the mobile platform. I loved that I could carry my library with me wherever I went. But now, it has become a much more useful tool to write Bible studies and sermons. 
—Pastor Randy O.





If I were to describe the difference between Logos 9 and Logos 10, it would be “Bible study faster and deeper.” 
—Tim H.





Logos 10 has a clear new look and a streamlined and improved experience for most everything you do. It’s the little things that affect everyday use that make this upgrade a good one. 
—Jacob H. 




Package options
Take a look:
Make sure you’re signed in so you can see your special Dynamic Pricing. 
With the launch discount, current package owners will save 30% on their first upgrade to Logos 10, even when buying multiple packages at once (e.g., Logos 10 Gold and Logos 10 Anglican Silver). 
Those buying a package for the first time will save 15% on any package.
If you’re interested in more than one package, add them all to your cart to see your custom price with Dynamic Pricing applied in the cart. (It keeps you from paying twice for the same features or resources.) 




Pssst: You might want to bookmark this page! We’ll be exploring Logos 10 in the coming weeks. As we do, we’ll add links to new articles here for easy access.
Related articles
How to Get Logos 10: Your Options Explained 
New Toolbar in Logos 10
Logos 10 Is Faster and Can Now Search Your Print Books
10-Day Bible Study Challenge: Living in the Word with Logos
What’s New in Logos 10 Libraries?
How to Use Your Print Books Like It’s 2022
Sermon Manager Levels Up with New Sermon Imports from Word
How to Nab All Logos 10 Features (& No New Library)

Logos 10 has arrived! The new and improved version is simpler to use so that everyday Christians, small group leaders, students, professors, and pastors can easily uncover insights in the Word of God.  Here are few highlights we’re particularly excited about: Faster performance (like, a lot faster on every device) A brand-new interface that puts […]

Logos 10 Is Here!

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Your pastors do so much for you, your church, and your community. How do you show them that you appreciate their ministry and encourage them to continue? A pastor recently told me, &#8220;I work with so many young men and women, and it&#8217;s all so consumer-driven . . . I [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pastor-preaching-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />October is <a href="https://www.logos.com/pastor-appreciation-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pastor Appreciation Month</a>. Your pastors do so much for you, your church, and your community. How do you show them that you appreciate their ministry and encourage them to continue?
A pastor recently told me, &#8220;I work with so many young men and women, and it&#8217;s all so consumer-driven . . . I think they forget that they can bless me too.&#8221;
You don&#8217;t have to wait until Pastor Appreciation Month or Pastor Appreciation Day (October 9 this year) to do nice things for your pastor. In fact, you shouldn&#8217;t. Your pastor&#8217;s goal isn&#8217;t to earn your appreciation, but few things are more encouraging than genuine gratitude and visible representations of God&#8217;s love.
If your pastoral staff has one or two pastors that receive a lot of recognition for the work they do, consider seeking out the pastors who work behind the scenes to honor them too.
Here are seven practical ways to care for your pastor.
<h2>1. Ask how you can pray for them</h2>
Pastors pray for the people in their congregation all the time. How often do you think a meeting with a pastor ends with, &#8220;Can you pray for me?&#8221; or &#8220;Let me pray for you.&#8221;?
Prayer is a powerful gift. Asking your pastor how to pray for them shows genuine concern for their well-being and spiritual health. It&#8217;s a reminder that we&#8217;re all part of the body of Christ, and they aren&#8217;t in this alone.
No matter how wise or spiritual your pastor is, they can always use more prayer.
You could even take a minute to pray for your pastor right now.
<h2>2. Offer to babysit—for free!</h2>
If your pastor has a young family, there&#8217;s no such thing as a day or night off. When you&#8217;re emotionally, mentally, and spiritually exhausted, your family only gets the leftovers.
Give your pastor an evening (or a weekend!) away from the kids so they can spend time alone or with their spouse, and come back ready to counsel, lead, and love their family and their church.
You could even involve older youth-group kids and make it a meaningful serving opportunity for them as well.
While I was volunteering at a Christian camp, one of the greatest ways the volunteer team could bless each other was by spending time with each other&#8217;s kids. For people in more central leadership roles, it removed the added weight of feeling like their ministry was a burden to their spouse and it gave them a moment to breath without screaming kids.
<h2>3. Send them on a date</h2>
When you love your work, it&#8217;s easy to get caught up in it. When your work involves constantly being available to people, it&#8217;s even easier.
Send your pastor on a special date with their spouse. Next to God, it&#8217;s the relationship that will restore and bless them the most.
Note: This may also require you to refer to #2.
<a href="https://www.logos.com/pastor-appreciation-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/63050716/assets/13853406/content.png?signature=MdFqfmsE9PjO3P2eHEVt4PvVoyw" alt="Pastor Appreciation Month New Deals Every Day" width="728" height="90" /></a>
<h2>4. Do the jobs they can&#8217;t find time for</h2>
Whether you have specialized skills or not, there&#8217;s probably something you could do around your pastor&#8217;s house to serve and bless them. It certainly wouldn&#8217;t hurt to ask. 
If your pastor doesn&#8217;t have a big project around the house that needs to get done, there are always lawns to be mowed, cars to be washed, weeds to be pulled, and other maintenance work people don&#8217;t always have time for. Even if you spend less than an hour actually working, the gesture shows your pastor that you care enough about them to make personal sacrifices for them.
The nastier the job, the more they&#8217;ll feel the love.
<h2>5. Bake for them</h2>
Nothing says &#8220;thank you&#8221; like a big plate of cookies.
Baking something for your pastor or church staff shows premeditated appreciation. You gathered the ingredients (or went out and bought the box) and you took the time to bake it, all with the intention of giving it to them.
If you can bring your baked goods to the church office, all the better. You&#8217;re providing your pastor with a tasty reminder of the people they are serving when they&#8217;re hard at work.
<h2>6. Give them Logos Bible Software</h2>
Pastors spend hours each week digging through the Bible. To be the best pastors they can be, pastors have to get back to the sources of Scripture, interpret it in context, and see its connections to other texts, other passages, and life today.
<a href="https://www.logos.com/comparison?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=7ways_pastor_appreciation&amp;utm_campaign=promo-pam2014">Logos Bible Software</a> performs hours of Bible study in seconds. It&#8217;s like having a personal research assistant that can instantly search thousands of books to find what you&#8217;re looking for. That means your pastor can search a passage of Scripture and find hundreds of references to it all at once. They can read commentaries side by side with Scripture and dive into Greek or Hebrew texts to find unique insights into each passage.
If you&#8217;re a pastor, the world&#8217;s leading Bible software is a tool you need. Logos saves you time and helps you get more out of your Bible study.
<a href="https://www.logos.com/?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=7ways_pastor_appreciation&amp;utm_campaign=promo-pam2014" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Take a look at getting Logos for your pastor</a>. If they already have Logos, they might appreciate a <a href="https://www.logos.com/product/185223/logos-digital-gift-card?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=7ways_pastor_appreciation&amp;utm_campaign=promo-pam2014" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Logos gift card</a> instead.
<h2>7. Spend time with them outside of church</h2>
Pastors spend all kinds of time with people at church. But that all comes back to that &#8220;consumer-driven&#8221; environment, where pastors can feel like they&#8217;re constantly pouring themselves out but not being poured into.
Ask your pastor to hang out outside of church sometime. Be prepared that they may already have a very full calendar (in which case, it may be better to refer to ideas #1–6).
Depending on how well you know your pastor, you may want to go to a movie, take a hike, grab coffee or a meal, or hang out at a park. If you know your pastor well enough, you could even plan a combined family outing like a picnic.
Asking your pastor to spend time with you outside of church shows them you aren&#8217;t interested in a transactional relationship. It means you appreciate them as a person, and you want to be their friend.
***
No matter which you choose, your pastor will appreciate your taking time to show your appreciation.
<a href="https://www.logos.com/pastor-appreciation-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/63050716/assets/13853406/content.png?signature=MdFqfmsE9PjO3P2eHEVt4PvVoyw" alt="Pastor Appreciation Month New Deals Every Day" width="728" height="90" /></a>

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Your pastors do so much for you, your church, and your community. How do you show them that you appreciate their ministry and encourage them to continue?
A pastor recently told me, “I work with so many young men and women, and it’s all so consumer-driven . . . I think they forget that they can bless me too.”
You don’t have to wait until Pastor Appreciation Month or Pastor Appreciation Day (October 9 this year) to do nice things for your pastor. In fact, you shouldn’t. Your pastor’s goal isn’t to earn your appreciation, but few things are more encouraging than genuine gratitude and visible representations of God’s love.
If your pastoral staff has one or two pastors that receive a lot of recognition for the work they do, consider seeking out the pastors who work behind the scenes to honor them too.
Here are seven practical ways to care for your pastor.
1. Ask how you can pray for them
Pastors pray for the people in their congregation all the time. How often do you think a meeting with a pastor ends with, “Can you pray for me?” or “Let me pray for you.”?
Prayer is a powerful gift. Asking your pastor how to pray for them shows genuine concern for their well-being and spiritual health. It’s a reminder that we’re all part of the body of Christ, and they aren’t in this alone.
No matter how wise or spiritual your pastor is, they can always use more prayer.
You could even take a minute to pray for your pastor right now.
2. Offer to babysit—for free!
If your pastor has a young family, there’s no such thing as a day or night off. When you’re emotionally, mentally, and spiritually exhausted, your family only gets the leftovers.
Give your pastor an evening (or a weekend!) away from the kids so they can spend time alone or with their spouse, and come back ready to counsel, lead, and love their family and their church.
You could even involve older youth-group kids and make it a meaningful serving opportunity for them as well.
While I was volunteering at a Christian camp, one of the greatest ways the volunteer team could bless each other was by spending time with each other’s kids. For people in more central leadership roles, it removed the added weight of feeling like their ministry was a burden to their spouse and it gave them a moment to breath without screaming kids.
3. Send them on a date
When you love your work, it’s easy to get caught up in it. When your work involves constantly being available to people, it’s even easier.
Send your pastor on a special date with their spouse. Next to God, it’s the relationship that will restore and bless them the most.
Note: This may also require you to refer to #2.

4. Do the jobs they can’t find time for
Whether you have specialized skills or not, there’s probably something you could do around your pastor’s house to serve and bless them. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask.
The nastier the job, the more they’ll feel the love.
5. Bake for them
Nothing says “thank you” like a big plate of cookies.
Baking something for your pastor or church staff shows premeditated appreciation. You gathered the ingredients (or went out and bought the box) and you took the time to bake it, all with the intention of giving it to them.
If you can bring your baked goods to the church office, all the better. You’re providing your pastor with a tasty reminder of the people they are serving when they’re hard at work.
6. Give them Logos Bible Software
Pastors spend hours each week digging through the Bible. To be the best pastors they can be, pastors have to get back to the sources of Scripture, interpret it in context, and see its connections to other texts, other passages, and life today.
Logos Bible Software performs hours of Bible study in seconds. It’s like having a personal research assistant that can instantly search thousands of books to find what you’re looking for. That means your pastor can search a passage of Scripture and find hundreds of references to it all at once. They can read commentaries side by side with Scripture and dive into Greek or Hebrew texts to find unique insights into each passage.
If you’re a pastor, the world’s leading Bible software is a tool you need. Logos saves you time and helps you get more out of your Bible study.
Take a look at getting Logos for your pastor. If they already have Logos, they might appreciate a Logos gift card instead.
7. Spend time with them outside of church
Pastors spend all kinds of time with people at church. But that all comes back to that “consumer-driven” environment, where pastors can feel like they’re constantly pouring themselves out but not being poured into.
Ask your pastor to hang out outside of church sometime. Be prepared that they may already have a very full calendar (in which case, it may be better to refer to ideas #1–6).
Depending on how well you know your pastor, you may want to go to a movie, take a hike, grab coffee or a meal, or hang out at a park. If you know your pastor well enough, you could even plan a combined family outing like a picnic.
Asking your pastor to spend time with you outside of church shows them you aren’t interested in a transactional relationship. It means you appreciate them as a person, and you want to be their friend.
***
No matter which you choose, your pastor will appreciate your taking time to show your appreciation.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Your pastors do so much for you, your church, and your community. How do you show them that you appreciate their ministry and encourage them to continue? A pastor recently told me, “I work with so many young men and women, and it’s all so consumer-driven . . . I […]

7 Ways to Bless Your Pastor

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-150x150.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Logos logo" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-150x150.png 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-166x166.png 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-24x24.png 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-48x48.png 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-96x96.png 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-300x300.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Vik Rajagopal, CEO of Faithlife. I want to take this opportunity to share more information about the strategic direction of Faithlife as we celebrate our 30th anniversary and step into our next thirty years. The past 30 years Our founder, Bob Pritchett, launched Logos Bible [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-150x150.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Logos logo" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-150x150.png 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-166x166.png 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-24x24.png 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-48x48.png 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-96x96.png 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Logos-Blog-1200x630-1-300x300.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Vik Rajagopal, CEO of Faithlife. I want to take this opportunity to share more information about the strategic direction of Faithlife as we celebrate our 30th anniversary and step into our next thirty years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-past-30-years">The past 30 years</h2>



Our founder, Bob Pritchett, launched Logos Bible Software in January of 1992. Bob saw an opportunity to make Bible study more accessible, and for the past thirty years we have worked hard to equip the church and help our users go deeper in their study and understanding of the Word.&nbsp;



In recent years, we branched out to offer a suite of tools that serve churches more broadly through church management software (ChMS), website hosting, live streaming, online giving, and more. While our product assortment has grown, our mission and vision have not changed. Our mission is to use technology to equip the church to grow in the light of the Bible. And our vision is to increase biblical literacy and accessibility for every Christian around the world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Honoring our mission and vision</h2>



We believe good stewardship requires us to continually challenge and defend our decisions, priorities, and direction to make sure they’re aligned with our mission and vision, and are in the best interests of our customers. We spent the past year taking a critical look at our business—evaluating where we’ve been and where we’re going. What customer needs are we uniquely suited to address? What can we do with excellence? Which areas best enable us to increase biblical literacy and accessibility around the world?



As we assessed the state of our products, it became abundantly clear we needed to double down where we are uniquely positioned to serve the church—and that’s Bible study tools, content delivery, and digital discipleship. These things are fundamentally aligned with our mission and our vision—they’re why our customers love us, and they represent areas where we can offer unique value to the kingdom. And in this time of uncertainty, we believe those elements are in even more need today than they were thirty years ago.


<blockquote>
&#8230; it became abundantly clear we needed to double down where we are uniquely positioned to serve the church &#8230;
</blockquote>


<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Product–mission alignment</h2>



We also had to face some hard facts with some of our newer product lines. After eight years of development, Faithlife Equip and our integrated ministry platform were still missing key features our users needed. Addressing these product challenges would take us many more years.&nbsp;



In the meantime, COVID encouraged churches to adopt other quality church management and online giving solutions on an accelerated timeline. And with our development and other resources split between church management and our flagship product, Logos Bible Software, we realized we were diluting efforts toward our most mission-critical work to stand up products that were peripheral to our vision.



That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to exit the church management space and sunset parts of Faithlife Equip, effective June 30, 2023. The Equip sunset will include Sites, Live Stream, and core ChMS functionality. We will continue to offer Logos, Proclaim, Sermons, TV, and Pro Media and have plans to integrate these products further with our various Bible study tools in the future.



We do not do this lightly—this decision is the result of many months of discussion, debate, analysis, customer interviews, and even a few tears. But it’s what we believe is necessary and right both for our customers and our business.&nbsp;



To those that placed their trust in us to deliver a compelling, full-featured integrated ministry platform, we are sorry we fell short of our promise. We know this decision will impact you, your team, and possibly your congregation. We will work to make your offboarding options and experience as simple and seamless as possible. Please know that our support team will remain available to provide the same excellent support as you navigate this product transition over the next nine months.



While I regret that we will not fulfill our vision for Faithlife Equip, I’m excited for the future, starting with an exciting product announcement we will make in the coming days.


<blockquote>
We strive to help every Christian worldwide go deeper in the Word &#8230;
</blockquote>


<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Resourcing every corner of the world</h2>



We strive to help every Christian worldwide go deeper in the Word, and we will be even more intentional in our efforts in the coming years. This starts with our next version of Logos Bible Software. We’ll build and grow from there as we seek to meet the needs of our users and leverage technology to bring Christians in every corner of the world closer to the Word. Our vision will require ongoing innovation and the delivery of awesome new tools and services that bring unique value to our customers. This is what we’ve been called to do, and this is what we will pursue with all of our energy and resources as we look to the future.

For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Vik Rajagopal, CEO of Faithlife. I want to take this opportunity to share more information about the strategic direction of Faithlife as we celebrate our 30th anniversary and step into our next thirty years.
The past 30 years
Our founder, Bob Pritchett, launched Logos Bible Software in January of 1992. Bob saw an opportunity to make Bible study more accessible, and for the past thirty years we have worked hard to equip the church and help our users go deeper in their study and understanding of the Word. 
In recent years, we branched out to offer a suite of tools that serve churches more broadly through church management software (ChMS), website hosting, live streaming, online giving, and more. While our product assortment has grown, our mission and vision have not changed. Our mission is to use technology to equip the church to grow in the light of the Bible. And our vision is to increase biblical literacy and accessibility for every Christian around the world.
Honoring our mission and vision
We believe good stewardship requires us to continually challenge and defend our decisions, priorities, and direction to make sure they’re aligned with our mission and vision, and are in the best interests of our customers. We spent the past year taking a critical look at our business—evaluating where we’ve been and where we’re going. What customer needs are we uniquely suited to address? What can we do with excellence? Which areas best enable us to increase biblical literacy and accessibility around the world?
As we assessed the state of our products, it became abundantly clear we needed to double down where we are uniquely positioned to serve the church—and that’s Bible study tools, content delivery, and digital discipleship. These things are fundamentally aligned with our mission and our vision—they’re why our customers love us, and they represent areas where we can offer unique value to the kingdom. And in this time of uncertainty, we believe those elements are in even more need today than they were thirty years ago.
… it became abundantly clear we needed to double down where we are uniquely positioned to serve the church …
Product–mission alignment
We also had to face some hard facts with some of our newer product lines. After eight years of development, Faithlife Equip and our integrated ministry platform were still missing key features our users needed. Addressing these product challenges would take us many more years. 
In the meantime, COVID encouraged churches to adopt other quality church management and online giving solutions on an accelerated timeline. And with our development and other resources split between church management and our flagship product, Logos Bible Software, we realized we were diluting efforts toward our most mission-critical work to stand up products that were peripheral to our vision.
That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to exit the church management space and sunset parts of Faithlife Equip, effective June 30, 2023. The Equip sunset will include Sites, Live Stream, and core ChMS functionality. We will continue to offer Logos, Proclaim, Sermons, TV, and Pro Media and have plans to integrate these products further with our various Bible study tools in the future.
We do not do this lightly—this decision is the result of many months of discussion, debate, analysis, customer interviews, and even a few tears. But it’s what we believe is necessary and right both for our customers and our business. 
To those that placed their trust in us to deliver a compelling, full-featured integrated ministry platform, we are sorry we fell short of our promise. We know this decision will impact you, your team, and possibly your congregation. We will work to make your offboarding options and experience as simple and seamless as possible. Please know that our support team will remain available to provide the same excellent support as you navigate this product transition over the next nine months.
While I regret that we will not fulfill our vision for Faithlife Equip, I’m excited for the future, starting with an exciting product announcement we will make in the coming days.
We strive to help every Christian worldwide go deeper in the Word …
Resourcing every corner of the world
We strive to help every Christian worldwide go deeper in the Word, and we will be even more intentional in our efforts in the coming years. This starts with our next version of Logos Bible Software. We’ll build and grow from there as we seek to meet the needs of our users and leverage technology to bring Christians in every corner of the world closer to the Word. Our vision will require ongoing innovation and the delivery of awesome new tools and services that bring unique value to our customers. This is what we’ve been called to do, and this is what we will pursue with all of our energy and resources as we look to the future.

For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Vik Rajagopal, CEO of Faithlife. I want to take this opportunity to share more information about the strategic direction of Faithlife as we celebrate our 30th anniversary and step into our next thirty years. The past 30 years Our founder, Bob Pritchett, launched Logos Bible […]

Updates to Faithlife’s Strategic Direction

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-166x166.jpg 166w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Twenty-five years ago, singer-songwriter Rich Mullins lost his life in a car accident on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas. We remember him from hit songs like “Awesome God” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord.” At the peak of his career, Mullins turned his back on fame and success to live on [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RichMullins_16x9-166x166.jpg 166w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Twenty-five years ago, singer-songwriter Rich Mullins lost his life in a car accident on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas. We remember him from hit songs like “Awesome God” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord.”
At the peak of his career, Mullins turned his back on fame and success to live on a Native American reservation in New Mexico, teaching music to children and sharing his simple hope in the gospel of Jesus.
But who really was the enigmatic performer whose bold honesty ruffled the feathers of the music industry—and his fellow believers?
We get to know him better in <a href="https://faithlifetv.com/media/497356?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=richmullinsblogpost&amp;utm_campaign=promo-richmullins">Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy</a>. In this documentary (available on Faithlife TV with a free trial subscription), those who knew him best remember his lasting influence and how his deep devotion shaped their lives.
Here are eight things you might not know about Rich Mullins.
<h2>Rich Mullins struggled with “fitting in.”</h2>
Friends said he was a complicated mix of talent and magnetism, piety and mystery. “Every single place he went,” recalled one, “he created community.” Yet those same friends sensed a lingering loneliness, as if he was never fully a part of the communities that grew around his popularity.
<h2>He was a piano prodigy.</h2>
He began playing the piano at age 4, practicing in their rural Indiana church and picking up tunes in between his sister’s piano lessons. He always wanted to add his own flourishes to the music as written.
<h2>But he couldn’t change a lightbulb.</h2>
In a part of the country where sports ability and mechanical savvy were highly valued, Rich was the artistic one. “He literally could not change a lightbulb,” said his sister. “He was incapable.” 
<a href="https://faithlifetv.com?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=richmullinsblogpost&amp;utm_campaign=promo-richmullins"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-28575 size-full" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Faithlife-TV-Generic-FLAN-ad-640x186-1.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="186" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Faithlife-TV-Generic-FLAN-ad-640x186-1.jpg 640w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Faithlife-TV-Generic-FLAN-ad-640x186-1-300x87.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a>
<h2>Rich&#8217;s compassion made him different.</h2>
At about age six, Mullins announced he wanted to be a missionary. And from an early age, he was known for his caring heart. His brother shared that when they watched John Wayne movies, Mullins would cry if Indians were shot.
<h2>The family pastor challenged him to think.</h2>
During their years in Indiana, the Mullins family’s pastor challenged them to read Scripture for themselves as he preached. He insisted they not take his word for it, but look for context in verses before and after sermon texts. Years later, Mullins said the Bible “does not give us answers fitted to our small-minded questions, but truth that goes beyond what we even know to ask.”
<h2>He struggled with the spotlight.</h2>
After the first time he played the piano in church (around age 10), Rich was asked how he thought he did. “Pretty well,” he replied. “People seemed to enjoy it. They clapped.” He was promptly told that if people clapped for his performance, he did not point them to God. That early influence helped shape his later ministry.
<h2>Rebellion marked his early life.</h2>
Mullins was known to skip school, and one day his high school administrators called home to ask where he was. His mother replied that he had left on time; she assumed he was in class. But then she knew where he was: at the local Methodist church, playing music. Of course.
<h2>College friends gave Rich a boost.</h2>
Mullins got his performing start with a Christian band called Zion, playing at coffeehouses, high schools, and youth group gatherings in the Cincinnati area. As he preached between songs, the group grew into a ministry. Many of his Zion friends would remain with him the rest of his life.
“During his life, Rich Mullins challenged the sensibilities of what it means to follow Jesus in today’s world,” said James Bryan Smith, a professor and author who wrote <a href="https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/21456/rich-mullins-a-devotional-biography?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=richmullinsblogpost&amp;utm_campaign=promo-richmullins">a biography on Mullins</a>. “And now in his death, he challenges all to build upon his legacy of joy, compassion, brokenness, unblinking honesty, and wonder of an Awesome God.”
Learn more about the life and legacy of this remarkable Christian and creative artist when you watch <a href="https://faithlifetv.com/media/497356?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=richmullinsblogpost&amp;utm_campaign=promo-richmullins">Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy</a> on Faithlife TV. 
<a href="https://faithlifetv.com/?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=richmullinsblogpost&amp;utm_campaign=promo-richmullins&amp;webSyncID=996d4775-b61a-767c-9175-e9451c81cd84&amp;sessionGUID=79647e51-8c19-6374-26ae-7a98e4ba1ba7&amp;spMailingID=4565993&amp;spUserID=MjIyNTU0NTk4MzI3S0&amp;spJobID=961059563&amp;spReportId=OTYxMDU2MDM5S0"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-24563 size-full" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/640x186.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="186" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/640x186.jpg 620w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/640x186-300x87.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a>

Twenty-five years ago, singer-songwriter Rich Mullins lost his life in a car accident on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas. We remember him from hit songs like “Awesome God” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord.”
At the peak of his career, Mullins turned his back on fame and success to live on a Native American reservation in New Mexico, teaching music to children and sharing his simple hope in the gospel of Jesus.
But who really was the enigmatic performer whose bold honesty ruffled the feathers of the music industry—and his fellow believers?
We get to know him better in Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy. In this documentary (available on Faithlife TV with a free trial subscription), those who knew him best remember his lasting influence and how his deep devotion shaped their lives.
Here are eight things you might not know about Rich Mullins.
Rich Mullins struggled with “fitting in.”
Friends said he was a complicated mix of talent and magnetism, piety and mystery. “Every single place he went,” recalled one, “he created community.” Yet those same friends sensed a lingering loneliness, as if he was never fully a part of the communities that grew around his popularity.
He was a piano prodigy.
He began playing the piano at age 4, practicing in their rural Indiana church and picking up tunes in between his sister’s piano lessons. He always wanted to add his own flourishes to the music as written.
But he couldn’t change a lightbulb.
In a part of the country where sports ability and mechanical savvy were highly valued, Rich was the artistic one. “He literally could not change a lightbulb,” said his sister. “He was incapable.”

Rich’s compassion made him different.
At about age six, Mullins announced he wanted to be a missionary. And from an early age, he was known for his caring heart. His brother shared that when they watched John Wayne movies, Mullins would cry if Indians were shot.
The family pastor challenged him to think.
During their years in Indiana, the Mullins family’s pastor challenged them to read Scripture for themselves as he preached. He insisted they not take his word for it, but look for context in verses before and after sermon texts. Years later, Mullins said the Bible “does not give us answers fitted to our small-minded questions, but truth that goes beyond what we even know to ask.”
He struggled with the spotlight.
After the first time he played the piano in church (around age 10), Rich was asked how he thought he did. “Pretty well,” he replied. “People seemed to enjoy it. They clapped.” He was promptly told that if people clapped for his performance, he did not point them to God. That early influence helped shape his later ministry.
Rebellion marked his early life.
Mullins was known to skip school, and one day his high school administrators called home to ask where he was. His mother replied that he had left on time; she assumed he was in class. But then she knew where he was: at the local Methodist church, playing music. Of course.
College friends gave Rich a boost.
Mullins got his performing start with a Christian band called Zion, playing at coffeehouses, high schools, and youth group gatherings in the Cincinnati area. As he preached between songs, the group grew into a ministry. Many of his Zion friends would remain with him the rest of his life.
“During his life, Rich Mullins challenged the sensibilities of what it means to follow Jesus in today’s world,” said James Bryan Smith, a professor and author who wrote a biography on Mullins. “And now in his death, he challenges all to build upon his legacy of joy, compassion, brokenness, unblinking honesty, and wonder of an Awesome God.”
Learn more about the life and legacy of this remarkable Christian and creative artist when you watch Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy on Faithlife TV.

Twenty-five years ago, singer-songwriter Rich Mullins lost his life in a car accident on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas. We remember him from hit songs like “Awesome God” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord.” At the peak of his career, Mullins turned his back on fame and success to live on […]

8 Things You Didn’t Know about Rich Mullins

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="mini pumpkins at a church&#039;s fall festival" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Even if it doesn’t get crisp where you live, your church can create that feeling at your fall festival or trunk or treat—and put a fresh start to your outreach for a new season. Here are five ideas to [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="mini pumpkins at a church&#039;s fall festival" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pumpkins-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Even if it doesn’t get crisp where you live, your church can create that feeling at your fall festival or trunk or treat—and put a fresh start to your outreach for a new season.
Here are five ideas to help you as you plan your church’s upcoming fall festival, plus a <a href="https://faithlife.com/ministry-resources/proclaim/kit/free-church-media-fall?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=fallfestival&amp;utm_campaign=tofu-freechurchmediafall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">free bundle of fall media for churches</a>.
<h2>Fall cookie contest</h2>
It is a truth universally acknowledged that people love cookies, so featuring all kinds of delicious types at your festival is a smart (and delicious) move.
Ask your members to bake a number of cookies appropriate for how many guests you think will attend your fall festival. Make sure to announce this ahead of time, add it to your church’s <a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/can-your-church-event-calendar-do-this/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event calendar</a>, and make <a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/display-church-announcements-with-digital-signage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reminder announcements</a> so people don’t forget.&nbsp;
At your festival:
• Clearly label each cookie with a cookie name and number.   • Keep voting objective by leaving out the baker’s name.&nbsp;  • Have voting slips, pens, and a bucket or bowl for people to turn in their voting forms.&nbsp;  • On your voting forms, include a one-to-five scale for taste, decoration, and either originality or overall impression.  • Optional: Include a sign saying when the winner will be announced.&nbsp; 
<a href="https://faithlife.com/ministry-resources/proclaim/kit/free-church-media-fall?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=fallfestival&amp;utm_campaign=tofu-freechurchmediafall" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/37655893/assets/9109251/content.png?signature=FC2I_rsL-hdWapHtuNOjL9BIa4E" alt="Just Add Pumpkin Spice: Fall's Free Church Media" width="728" height="90"></a>
<h2>Mini pumpkin decorating</h2>
Mini pumpkins don’t cost much, and decorating them is fun for people young and old. Plus, you could make a contest out of this, too!
Provide stickers, glitter glue, markers, paint, and whatever else you’d like. Disposable plastic aprons might also be a good idea. If you’re turning it into a contest, add a decoration time limit and break up competition categories into age groups.
<h2>Fall photo booth</h2>
Ask a creative church volunteer or two to help you create a fun fall photo booth people want to get their photos in. Hay bales, a scarecrow, pumpkins, fall leaves, and an autumn-colored background make for a good start. If you’re adventurous, you could even include paper props like corn on the cob, pumpkin pie, and caramel apples.
Include your church’s name somewhere visible but not overbearing in the photo booth so when people share their cute snaps on social media, your church name will be seen.
<h2>Ring toss</h2>
Keep this really simple with classic glass bottles and rings made out of jute rope and electrical tape. Or make it even more fun and fall themed by using full-sized pumpkins and hula hoops instead.&nbsp;
<h2>Gift-making stations</h2>
Give your guests the opportunity to make gifts for the needy. It’s both memorable and meaningful.
For example, gather all the supplies you’ll need to assemble Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. People can pitch in to decorate the boxes, fill them with gifts, and add labels. Another idea is to make cards to give to shut-ins (especially if you’re delivering Thanksgiving meals).&nbsp;
***
Get ready for your church’s fall events—from fall festivals to Trunk or Treat to Pastor Appreciation Month and more—with a <a href="https://faithlife.com/ministry-resources/proclaim/kit/free-church-media-fall?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=fallfestival&amp;utm_campaign=tofu-freechurchmediafall">free bundle of fall media</a>.
<a href="https://faithlife.com/ministry-resources/proclaim/kit/free-church-media-fall?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=fallfestival&amp;utm_campaign=tofu-freechurchmediafall" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/37655893/assets/9109251/content.png?signature=FC2I_rsL-hdWapHtuNOjL9BIa4E" alt="Just Add Pumpkin Spice: Fall's Free Church Media" width="728" height="90"></a>

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Even if it doesn’t get crisp where you live, your church can create that feeling at your fall festival or trunk or treat—and put a fresh start to your outreach for a new season.
Here are five ideas to help you as you plan your church’s upcoming fall festival, plus a free bundle of fall media for churches.
Fall cookie contest
It is a truth universally acknowledged that people love cookies, so featuring all kinds of delicious types at your festival is a smart (and delicious) move.
Ask your members to bake a number of cookies appropriate for how many guests you think will attend your fall festival. Make sure to announce this ahead of time, add it to your church’s event calendar, and make reminder announcements so people don’t forget. 
At your festival:
• Clearly label each cookie with a cookie name and number.  
• Keep voting objective by leaving out the baker’s name.  
• Have voting slips, pens, and a bucket or bowl for people to turn in their voting forms.  
• On your voting forms, include a one-to-five scale for taste, decoration, and either originality or overall impression. 
• Optional: Include a sign saying when the winner will be announced.  

Mini pumpkin decorating
Mini pumpkins don’t cost much, and decorating them is fun for people young and old. Plus, you could make a contest out of this, too!
Provide stickers, glitter glue, markers, paint, and whatever else you’d like. Disposable plastic aprons might also be a good idea. If you’re turning it into a contest, add a decoration time limit and break up competition categories into age groups.
Fall photo booth
Ask a creative church volunteer or two to help you create a fun fall photo booth people want to get their photos in. Hay bales, a scarecrow, pumpkins, fall leaves, and an autumn-colored background make for a good start. If you’re adventurous, you could even include paper props like corn on the cob, pumpkin pie, and caramel apples.
Include your church’s name somewhere visible but not overbearing in the photo booth so when people share their cute snaps on social media, your church name will be seen.
Ring toss
Keep this really simple with classic glass bottles and rings made out of jute rope and electrical tape. Or make it even more fun and fall themed by using full-sized pumpkins and hula hoops instead. 
Gift-making stations
Give your guests the opportunity to make gifts for the needy. It’s both memorable and meaningful.
For example, gather all the supplies you’ll need to assemble Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. People can pitch in to decorate the boxes, fill them with gifts, and add labels. Another idea is to make cards to give to shut-ins (especially if you’re delivering Thanksgiving meals). 
***
Get ready for your church’s fall events—from fall festivals to Trunk or Treat to Pastor Appreciation Month and more—with a free bundle of fall media.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Even if it doesn’t get crisp where you live, your church can create that feeling at your fall festival or trunk or treat—and put a fresh start to your outreach for a new season. Here are five ideas to […]

5 Church Fall Festival Ideas (+ FREE Fall Media Bundle)

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="church volunteer fighting burnout as she looks at her scheduled service" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-524x524.jpg 524w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Sometimes volunteers are just going to quit, and there&#8217;s nothing you can do to change their minds. People move. They get new jobs or go through transitions that make volunteering more difficult or stressful. But sometimes people quit for completely preventable reasons. They&#8217;re worn out. They don&#8217;t feel like what they do really matters to [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="church volunteer fighting burnout as she looks at her scheduled service" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Woman-at-Desk-1-524x524.jpg 524w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Sometimes volunteers are just going to quit, and there&#8217;s nothing you can do to change their minds.
People move. They get new jobs or go through transitions that make volunteering more difficult or stressful.
But sometimes people quit for completely preventable reasons. They&#8217;re worn out. They don&#8217;t feel like what they do really matters to you or your ministry. They feel stuck in their role. Or they feel like no one cares if they show up or not.
Each of these feelings are personal. But that doesn&#8217;t reduce these issues to personal problems or give you permission to dismiss them because you think someone &#8220;just isn&#8217;t the right fit.&#8221; These are symptoms of burnout, and you can take steps to make sure other volunteers don&#8217;t burn out, too. 
 
These are feelings you can address before they ever become problems. And if you don&#8217;t take measures to protect your team against them, you could find yourself reading an unexpected resignation letter or having a tough conversation with one of your best volunteers.
Whether you&#8217;re experiencing burnout yourself or you&#8217;re simply concerned about the health of your team, these twelve methods will help you <a href="/get-church-volunteers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">avoid losing valuable volunteers</a>. A lot of these methods overlap, but they each contribute to helping your volunteers feel more connected to their roles, your ministry, and the people they serve with.
If you&#8217;re serious about fighting burnout, see how these twelve tips can help your volunteer program:
<h2>1. Share the impact volunteers have</h2>
One of the best ways to remind people why what they do matters is to show them what happens as a result of their work.
We don&#8217;t always get to see the direct fruits of our labor, and some roles will see more tangible ways they impact your mission, but you can always remind someone to what they are contributing, and how their contribution affects the outcome. Talk about your mission and how what they do each week makes that mission possible, or fulfills that mission in some way.
If you&#8217;re having trouble communicating this to your volunteers, try to imagine your church without that role. What changes?
Imagine your church without greeters. How would newcomers and visitors feel when they set foot in your door?
Imagine you didn&#8217;t have a volunteer running your presentations. Who would that role fall to each service? How would you work around it?
Imagine that nobody in your church volunteered to play or sing in the worship band. What would worship look like each week?
None of these things determine whether or not your church can share the gospel. But every volunteer role has a purpose, and they each empower your church to share the gospel more clearly, with more people, or in different ways. There&#8217;s a reason for every role.
Identify that underlying purpose—the reason why your church or ministry depends on that volunteer—and highlight that purpose to your team as often as you can. Help them see how they fit into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:4–30).
Note: Be sensitive to how your team responds when you emphasize the importance of their role and the context in which you share it.
In the wrong setting, (like when someone is late to a meeting, or after you&#8217;ve just made an additional request) a reminder about the importance of a volunteer role becomes discouraging, and it can contribute to the volunteer burnout you&#8217;re trying to prevent.
<h2>2. Give your volunteers rest</h2>
If you pay attention to your volunteers and know them personally, it&#8217;s a lot easier to tell when they need a break.
Your ministry depends on your team, and they know that, but it should also be clear to volunteers that they can say no when life is too crazy. If you make volunteering an all-or-nothing commitment, you&#8217;re going to have fewer volunteers, and the ones you do have are going to wear out faster.
This isn&#8217;t giving people the freedom to be late or to not show up when they&#8217;ve said they would be there for you—it&#8217;s about giving people permission to tell you when they can&#8217;t or shouldn&#8217;t do what is being asked of them.
I&#8217;m not saying you should bend over backwards for lazy people (although Luke 13:6–9 has always made me more flexible with lazy people). All I&#8217;m saying is: pay attention. Sometimes people won&#8217;t tell you when they&#8217;re unusually stressed—they might even tell you they&#8217;re fine.
What &#8220;rest&#8221; looks like is up to you and your team. For some ministries, summer is the least active time of year, and volunteers enjoy a more casual commitment. But if every volunteer role is equally active year round, you may have to find other ways to give volunteers breaks. Maybe &#8220;rest&#8221; means you celebrate your volunteers and the hard work they&#8217;ve done all year. Maybe it means fewer meetings, or you find a way to give them a day off from their role.
Obviously, giving people a break is a lot easier when you have more than one volunteer in every role—which brings us to the next big way you can fight volunteer burnout.
<h2>3. Distribute knowledge</h2>
When you&#8217;re the only one who knows how to do your job, that job can quickly become more stressful. This usually happens in some of the most difficult or important roles—fewer people want to do it (or are capable of doing it), so the burden falls on a handful of people (or one person). They have to commit more of their lives to the role, and they feel less freedom to say no.
I&#8217;ve never heard a church or ministry say, &#8220;We have too many volunteers. Seriously, we don&#8217;t need your help.&#8221; There are never enough volunteers. But that doesn&#8217;t mean we have to look at this situation and say, &#8220;Too bad.&#8221;
Encourage your more experienced volunteers (or the ones who have more time) to learn multiple roles. Or see if anyone on your staff would be willing to give a volunteer a break now and then. When it comes to the long-term health of your ministry, your team members have to be able to support each other.
It may seem like you&#8217;re asking your volunteers for one more thing, but this gives you the opportunity to show your volunteers that they can lean on each other (and you) when they need to.
<h2>4. Appreciate your volunteers</h2>
You can never adequately compensate your volunteers for all the work they do for you. And the vast majority of volunteers aren&#8217;t looking for compensation. They&#8217;re volunteering. And if they&#8217;re volunteering in ministry, they&#8217;re probably hoping to get something you can&#8217;t hand them—like spiritual growth or a more intimate relationship with God.
Volunteer appreciation isn&#8217;t about compensation. Knowing that should help you decide <a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/get-church-volunteers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how to appreciate your volunteers</a>.
Volunteer appreciation is about encouragement. It&#8217;s acknowledging the sacrifices your volunteers make for you and your ministry, and helping them see that what they do matters. The ways you show your volunteers that you appreciate them should come from knowing them personally and discovering what makes them feel most cared for.
If your volunteers feel like you care about them personally, it makes it more enjoyable to remain in their volunteer community.
<h2>5. Build a volunteer community</h2>
My volunteer team doesn&#8217;t just meet together to plan youth group or go over &#8220;official volunteer business.&#8221; We&#8217;re friends. We spend time together because we enjoy each other. Sometimes our &#8220;official&#8221; meetings take longer than they need to because we hang out and talk about life—even though we&#8217;re all tired of meetings and we&#8217;re always trying to make them shorter.
We didn&#8217;t become friends overnight. We&#8217;ve been volunteering together for years. During that time, we&#8217;ve made an intentional effort to be part of each others&#8217; lives.
Being friends made it that much harder when one of our team members had to quit. We understood her reasons for leaving, but her absence deeply affected our team—and it was harder for her to leave because she knew she&#8217;d see us less.
Building community isn&#8217;t about guilting people into staying. It&#8217;s about developing genuine relationships that lead volunteers to enjoy their role more.
<h2>6. Provide clear goals</h2>
Once a volunteer has mastered the basics of their position, what&#8217;s next for them?
Doing the same task in the same way at the same place gets old fast. Goals give volunteers direction for growth and can keep &#8220;the usual thing&#8221; enjoyable. Providing goals can also help your ministry get more out of your volunteers.
Goals could be simple, like learning the names of ten new people each service. Or they could be bigger, like leading a song for the first time or preparing a devotional. Give your volunteers the option to challenge themselves to grow.
When people stop growing, that&#8217;s when they start getting that nagging feeling that something needs to change.
If you can, you should try to map out a &#8220;volunteer career path&#8221; for each of the roles your church or ministry offers. Show volunteers that there are opportunities to take their desire to grow even further.
Be reasonable. Don&#8217;t push your volunteers into the deep end, but keep fueling their desire to help by acknowledging their strengths and giving those strengths an application.
&#8220;You&#8217;re great at _____. Have you ever thought about trying ____?&#8221;
<h2>7. Prevent burnout, don&#8217;t react to it</h2>
By the time someone gets around to telling you that they&#8217;re quitting, they&#8217;ve probably made up their mind already. Unless you have a close relationship with your volunteers (and even if you do), they&#8217;ve likely discussed the decision with other people before they talked to you. When they get to you, they may already be too committed to their choice for you to change their minds.
If your plan to fight burnout is reactionary, you&#8217;ll almost always be too late.
Burnout doesn&#8217;t usually happen all of a sudden. It begins with boredom, dissatisfaction, frustration, or fatigue. Over time, those feelings grow into a desire for change, and then a decision based on those feelings.
You can&#8217;t prevent every volunteer from burning out. And most won&#8217;t stay for life. But if you&#8217;re proactive about fighting burnout and you pay attention to how your volunteers feel about their roles, more of them will stay for longer.
<h2>8. Come prepared, every time</h2>
Few things are more frustrating to a volunteer than a leader who isn&#8217;t prepared. 
Your volunteers take time off work, get babysitters, and plan around the time they spend with you and your ministry. When you show up late or unprepared, it can make your volunteers feel like you don&#8217;t care—or like you don&#8217;t understand what they&#8217;re giving up to be with you.
Honor their time, be prepared, and give as much notice as you can when a meeting is going to be shorter or longer than usual. Those changes affect people&#8217;s lives.
<h2>9. Remind them why they serve</h2>
People volunteer for a lot of different reasons. Some of those reasons—like spiritual growth or a desire to serve God—can keep volunteers going for a long time. Other reasons—like &#8220;meeting new people&#8221; or because a friend volunteered too—won&#8217;t be enough when the going gets tough.
Identify the reasons why your volunteers signed up. If you think those reasons will help your volunteers persevere, reinforce them. If the reasons why they signed up won&#8217;t last or stand up to friction, try to encourage them with some of the reasons why your other volunteers have stuck around—or else help them hold onto those reasons when things get difficult.
These reasons are tools for positive reinforcement and encouragement, not ways to induce guilt. Know your volunteers, and pay attention to how they respond.
<h2>10. Find a mentor for every volunteer</h2>
One of the single greatest ways you can help a volunteer grow is to get them a mentor. Whether that&#8217;s a more experienced volunteer, a pastor or staff person, or another member of the congregation who enjoys developing relationships with people.
There are probably some people in your church right now who are more than capable of mentoring, but they either don&#8217;t know it or haven&#8217;t been given the nudge they need yet. Find ways to share this need with your congregation—it&#8217;s someone else&#8217;s spiritual growth opportunity.
When your volunteers have people they can talk to about their personal lives, their relationship with God, and how they feel about their role, it&#8217;s easier to address burnout before it happens. A mentor can identify the beginnings of burnout, and you can equip them to help reignite the flame.
<h2>11. Pray for your volunteers</h2>
This should be obvious. Your volunteers are your partners in ministry, and your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for them. Pray for their families. Pray for their own personal ministries. Pray for their gifts. Pray for their jobs, which give them the flexibility to continue working with you. Pray for their personal relationship with Jesus, and pray that he becomes an even greater part of their lives.
Pray that Jesus would give them all the encouragement they need to continue.
The better you know your volunteers, the more specifically you can pray for them. But even if you don&#8217;t get to develop a personal relationship with every volunteer, smother them all in prayer.
<h2>12. Train them well</h2>
Whatever your <a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/church-volunteer-training/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">volunteer training strategy</a> is, make sure your volunteers are thoroughly prepared to fulfill their roles.
Nobody likes to feel like they&#8217;re lost or to look like they don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re doing. A new volunteer doesn&#8217;t have to feel that way for very long before they&#8217;re ready to be done. Solid training is one of the best ways for you to proactively fight volunteer burnout.
<h2>Know your team</h2>
Every single one of these techniques for fighting burnout depends on you to know your team. If you don&#8217;t have the capacity to get to know the people who serve with you, or there are too many volunteers for you to manage, assign team leaders for each role and help them identify signs of burnout, too.
If you don&#8217;t know the people who serve with you, you could easily wind up doing more harm than good.
Fight volunteer burnout, don&#8217;t cause it.
* * *
<h2>Software that helps you schedule and engage volunteers</h2>
Your volunteers are juggling work, life, and getting involved at your church. With <a href="https://servantpc.com/?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=volunteerburnout&amp;utm_campaign=promo-volunteers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Servant Keeper</a> church management software and Ministry Scheduler Pro, you can make it simple for them to get involved, be reminded to serve, and receive frequent thanks for their service. <a href="https://servantpc.com/?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=volunteerburnout&amp;utm_campaign=promo-volunteers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more about Servant Keeper today!</a>

Sometimes volunteers are just going to quit, and there’s nothing you can do to change their minds.
People move. They get new jobs or go through transitions that make volunteering more difficult or stressful.
But sometimes people quit for completely preventable reasons. They’re worn out. They don’t feel like what they do really matters to you or your ministry. They feel stuck in their role. Or they feel like no one cares if they show up or not.
Each of these feelings are personal. But that doesn’t reduce these issues to personal problems or give you permission to dismiss them because you think someone “just isn’t the right fit.” These are symptoms of burnout, and you can take steps to make sure other volunteers don’t burn out, too.

These are feelings you can address before they ever become problems. And if you don’t take measures to protect your team against them, you could find yourself reading an unexpected resignation letter or having a tough conversation with one of your best volunteers.
Whether you’re experiencing burnout yourself or you’re simply concerned about the health of your team, these twelve methods will help you avoid losing valuable volunteers. A lot of these methods overlap, but they each contribute to helping your volunteers feel more connected to their roles, your ministry, and the people they serve with.
If you’re serious about fighting burnout, see how these twelve tips can help your volunteer program:
1. Share the impact volunteers have
One of the best ways to remind people why what they do matters is to show them what happens as a result of their work.
We don’t always get to see the direct fruits of our labor, and some roles will see more tangible ways they impact your mission, but you can always remind someone to what they are contributing, and how their contribution affects the outcome. Talk about your mission and how what they do each week makes that mission possible, or fulfills that mission in some way.
If you’re having trouble communicating this to your volunteers, try to imagine your church without that role. What changes?
Imagine your church without greeters. How would newcomers and visitors feel when they set foot in your door?
Imagine you didn’t have a volunteer running your presentations. Who would that role fall to each service? How would you work around it?
Imagine that nobody in your church volunteered to play or sing in the worship band. What would worship look like each week?
None of these things determine whether or not your church can share the gospel. But every volunteer role has a purpose, and they each empower your church to share the gospel more clearly, with more people, or in different ways. There’s a reason for every role.
Identify that underlying purpose—the reason why your church or ministry depends on that volunteer—and highlight that purpose to your team as often as you can. Help them see how they fit into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:4–30).
Note: Be sensitive to how your team responds when you emphasize the importance of their role and the context in which you share it.
In the wrong setting, (like when someone is late to a meeting, or after you’ve just made an additional request) a reminder about the importance of a volunteer role becomes discouraging, and it can contribute to the volunteer burnout you’re trying to prevent.
2. Give your volunteers rest
If you pay attention to your volunteers and know them personally, it’s a lot easier to tell when they need a break.
Your ministry depends on your team, and they know that, but it should also be clear to volunteers that they can say no when life is too crazy. If you make volunteering an all-or-nothing commitment, you’re going to have fewer volunteers, and the ones you do have are going to wear out faster.
This isn’t giving people the freedom to be late or to not show up when they’ve said they would be there for you—it’s about giving people permission to tell you when they can’t or shouldn’t do what is being asked of them.
I’m not saying you should bend over backwards for lazy people (although Luke 13:6–9 has always made me more flexible with lazy people). All I’m saying is: pay attention. Sometimes people won’t tell you when they’re unusually stressed—they might even tell you they’re fine.
What “rest” looks like is up to you and your team. For some ministries, summer is the least active time of year, and volunteers enjoy a more casual commitment. But if every volunteer role is equally active year round, you may have to find other ways to give volunteers breaks. Maybe “rest” means you celebrate your volunteers and the hard work they’ve done all year. Maybe it means fewer meetings, or you find a way to give them a day off from their role.
Obviously, giving people a break is a lot easier when you have more than one volunteer in every role—which brings us to the next big way you can fight volunteer burnout.
3. Distribute knowledge
When you’re the only one who knows how to do your job, that job can quickly become more stressful. This usually happens in some of the most difficult or important roles—fewer people want to do it (or are capable of doing it), so the burden falls on a handful of people (or one person). They have to commit more of their lives to the role, and they feel less freedom to say no.
I’ve never heard a church or ministry say, “We have too many volunteers. Seriously, we don’t need your help.” There are never enough volunteers. But that doesn’t mean we have to look at this situation and say, “Too bad.”
Encourage your more experienced volunteers (or the ones who have more time) to learn multiple roles. Or see if anyone on your staff would be willing to give a volunteer a break now and then. When it comes to the long-term health of your ministry, your team members have to be able to support each other.
It may seem like you’re asking your volunteers for one more thing, but this gives you the opportunity to show your volunteers that they can lean on each other (and you) when they need to.
4. Appreciate your volunteers
You can never adequately compensate your volunteers for all the work they do for you. And the vast majority of volunteers aren’t looking for compensation. They’re volunteering. And if they’re volunteering in ministry, they’re probably hoping to get something you can’t hand them—like spiritual growth or a more intimate relationship with God.
Volunteer appreciation isn’t about compensation. Knowing that should help you decide how to appreciate your volunteers.
Volunteer appreciation is about encouragement. It’s acknowledging the sacrifices your volunteers make for you and your ministry, and helping them see that what they do matters. The ways you show your volunteers that you appreciate them should come from knowing them personally and discovering what makes them feel most cared for.
If your volunteers feel like you care about them personally, it makes it more enjoyable to remain in their volunteer community.
5. Build a volunteer community
My volunteer team doesn’t just meet together to plan youth group or go over “official volunteer business.” We’re friends. We spend time together because we enjoy each other. Sometimes our “official” meetings take longer than they need to because we hang out and talk about life—even though we’re all tired of meetings and we’re always trying to make them shorter.
We didn’t become friends overnight. We’ve been volunteering together for years. During that time, we’ve made an intentional effort to be part of each others’ lives.
Being friends made it that much harder when one of our team members had to quit. We understood her reasons for leaving, but her absence deeply affected our team—and it was harder for her to leave because she knew she’d see us less.
Building community isn’t about guilting people into staying. It’s about developing genuine relationships that lead volunteers to enjoy their role more.
6. Provide clear goals
Once a volunteer has mastered the basics of their position, what’s next for them?
Doing the same task in the same way at the same place gets old fast. Goals give volunteers direction for growth and can keep “the usual thing” enjoyable. Providing goals can also help your ministry get more out of your volunteers.
Goals could be simple, like learning the names of ten new people each service. Or they could be bigger, like leading a song for the first time or preparing a devotional. Give your volunteers the option to challenge themselves to grow.
When people stop growing, that’s when they start getting that nagging feeling that something needs to change.
If you can, you should try to map out a “volunteer career path” for each of the roles your church or ministry offers. Show volunteers that there are opportunities to take their desire to grow even further.
Be reasonable. Don’t push your volunteers into the deep end, but keep fueling their desire to help by acknowledging their strengths and giving those strengths an application.
“You’re great at _____. Have you ever thought about trying ____?”
7. Prevent burnout, don’t react to it
By the time someone gets around to telling you that they’re quitting, they’ve probably made up their mind already. Unless you have a close relationship with your volunteers (and even if you do), they’ve likely discussed the decision with other people before they talked to you. When they get to you, they may already be too committed to their choice for you to change their minds.
If your plan to fight burnout is reactionary, you’ll almost always be too late.
Burnout doesn’t usually happen all of a sudden. It begins with boredom, dissatisfaction, frustration, or fatigue. Over time, those feelings grow into a desire for change, and then a decision based on those feelings.
You can’t prevent every volunteer from burning out. And most won’t stay for life. But if you’re proactive about fighting burnout and you pay attention to how your volunteers feel about their roles, more of them will stay for longer.
8. Come prepared, every time
Few things are more frustrating to a volunteer than a leader who isn’t prepared.
When you show up late or unprepared, it can make your volunteers feel like you don’t care—or like you don’t understand what they’re giving up to be with you.
Honor their time, be prepared, and give as much notice as you can when a meeting is going to be shorter or longer than usual. Those changes affect people’s lives.
9. Remind them why they serve
People volunteer for a lot of different reasons. Some of those reasons—like spiritual growth or a desire to serve God—can keep volunteers going for a long time. Other reasons—like “meeting new people” or because a friend volunteered too—won’t be enough when the going gets tough.
Identify the reasons why your volunteers signed up. If you think those reasons will help your volunteers persevere, reinforce them. If the reasons why they signed up won’t last or stand up to friction, try to encourage them with some of the reasons why your other volunteers have stuck around—or else help them hold onto those reasons when things get difficult.
These reasons are tools for positive reinforcement and encouragement, not ways to induce guilt. Know your volunteers, and pay attention to how they respond.
10. Find a mentor for every volunteer
One of the single greatest ways you can help a volunteer grow is to get them a mentor. Whether that’s a more experienced volunteer, a pastor or staff person, or another member of the congregation who enjoys developing relationships with people.
There are probably some people in your church right now who are more than capable of mentoring, but they either don’t know it or haven’t been given the nudge they need yet. Find ways to share this need with your congregation—it’s someone else’s spiritual growth opportunity.
When your volunteers have people they can talk to about their personal lives, their relationship with God, and how they feel about their role, it’s easier to address burnout before it happens. A mentor can identify the beginnings of burnout, and you can equip them to help reignite the flame.
11. Pray for your volunteers
This should be obvious. Your volunteers are your partners in ministry, and your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for them. Pray for their families. Pray for their own personal ministries. Pray for their gifts. Pray for their jobs, which give them the flexibility to continue working with you. Pray for their personal relationship with Jesus, and pray that he becomes an even greater part of their lives.
Pray that Jesus would give them all the encouragement they need to continue.
The better you know your volunteers, the more specifically you can pray for them. But even if you don’t get to develop a personal relationship with every volunteer, smother them all in prayer.
12. Train them well
Whatever your volunteer training strategy is, make sure your volunteers are thoroughly prepared to fulfill their roles.
Nobody likes to feel like they’re lost or to look like they don’t know what they’re doing. A new volunteer doesn’t have to feel that way for very long before they’re ready to be done. Solid training is one of the best ways for you to proactively fight volunteer burnout.
Know your team
Every single one of these techniques for fighting burnout depends on you to know your team. If you don’t have the capacity to get to know the people who serve with you, or there are too many volunteers for you to manage, assign team leaders for each role and help them identify signs of burnout, too.
If you don’t know the people who serve with you, you could easily wind up doing more harm than good.
Fight volunteer burnout, don’t cause it.
* * *
Software that helps you schedule and engage volunteers
Your volunteers are juggling work, life, and getting involved at your church. With Servant Keeper church management software and Ministry Scheduler Pro, you can make it simple for them to get involved, be reminded to serve, and receive frequent thanks for their service. Find out more about Servant Keeper today!

Sometimes volunteers are just going to quit, and there’s nothing you can do to change their minds. People move. They get new jobs or go through transitions that make volunteering more difficult or stressful. But sometimes people quit for completely preventable reasons. They’re worn out. They don’t feel like what they do really matters to […]

12 Ways to Fight Church Volunteer Burnout

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="new worship team member singing during church service" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I don’t know a single worship leader who doesn’t want more solid musicians on their worship team. Identifying those musicians through an audition process is the first step to getting them there. But how can you set your new musicians up for success once they’ve made the team?

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="new worship team member singing during church service" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Worship-Team-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />By Jason Houtsma
I don’t know a single <a href="/9-things-about-worship-team-rehearsals/">worship leader</a> who doesn’t want more solid musicians on their worship team. Identifying those musicians through an audition process is the first step to getting them there. But how can you set new worship team members up for success once they’ve made the team?
<h2>Set clear expectations</h2>
A new team member is a blank slate. Setting clear expectations from the beginning will benefit you and your new team member. They don’t know the culture and are looking to you, as the leader, to define it.
Think through answers to questions like these:
<ul>
<li>How often do you practice?</li>
<li>What time does practice start?</li>
<li>When can they get in the building to set up?</li>
<li>How well should they know the songs when they show up?</li>
<li>Do you send out practice materials in advance?</li>
<li>If you do, when should they expect them?</li>
<li>What does a typical practice consist of?</li>
<li>What should they wear on Sunday?</li>
</ul>
Offering this information before it’s asked will communicate your expectations and build confidence in you as the leader. Both are important to your new team member.
<h2>Facilitate team relationships</h2>
Depending on the size of your church, your new worship team member may not know anyone on the team. Building in time for them to get acquainted can go a long way in settling nerves.
Don’t just invite them to practice and start playing music; properly introduce them. “Hey everyone. Before we get started, I’d like to introduce you to Jenny. She’s going to be playing piano with us.” Go around the room and have your members introduce themselves and answer a few icebreaker questions. Their name, how long they’ve been on the team, and what they enjoy most about playing for worship should be enough.
This information can make a new team player feel more at home. Bonus points if you share a few words about what you believe Jenny will bring to the team!
<h2>Be a trustworthy guide</h2>
Even after introducing them to the team, you are still the person new worship team members have had the most interaction with. Don’t leave them hanging—keep them close.
Do they seem uncomfortable? Offer some encouraging words. Make sure they are seeing your cues. If they’re missing them, pause and take time to explain what you’re doing.
Can they hear okay? Often new musicians don’t want to make waves and don’t take the time to set their monitor mix properly. Nothing undermines musical confidence like not being able to hear well. Take the time to help them get it set. They’ll thank you for it.
<h2>Debrief</h2>
When practice is over, take some one-on-one time to debrief. These sessions are your opportunity to listen, encourage, and gently critique (make sure you go in that order!).
“How was that for you?” Don’t just wait to talk—actively listen to what they are saying. After responding, take some time to praise the good things you saw. When it’s time to critique, be honest but kind. “I love the voicing you used on that chord going into the bridge. Just watch your tempo, and try to lock in with the drums.” If they didn’t meet your already-clearly-set expectations, a gentle reminder is fully appropriate.
<h2>Lower the stakes</h2>
Even with a ton of practice and prep work, chances are your new player will have some first-time jitters. Keep their responsibilities light for the first few sets. Don’t ask your new guitar player to kick off the first Hillsong tune with a big lead riff or your new vocalist to nail the high note like Kari Jobe. Give them small responsibilities first, and as they are successful with those, your confidence in them and their confidence in themselves will grow!
<h2>Care for the person over the player</h2>
One thing I’ve noticed over 20 years of leading worship is that I have to pace my players because they rarely pace themselves. It’s only natural to want to play with the best drummer all the time, but even the most enthusiastic and committed team member needs rest.
Keep communication lines open. Regularly check in and make sure they can handle the workload. If you suspect they are burning out, they probably are. Don’t be afraid to force a little time off. Just make sure they know you are doing it to protect them and give them rest, not because they’ve done anything wrong. This will not only protect them but also let them know you have their best interest in mind.
<h2>Support growth</h2>
Every new worship team member is a worship leader, so support their musical and spiritual growth. Share <a href="https://worshipartistry.com/greenroom/podcasts?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=worshipteammembersuccess&amp;utm_campaign=faithlifeblog?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=newworshipteam&amp;utm_campaign=partner-worshipartistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worship podcasts</a> and devotionals that encourage spiritual discussion. Provide them with <a href="https://worshipartistry.com/worship-team?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=worshipteammembersuccess&amp;utm_campaign=faithlifeblog?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=newworshipteam&amp;utm_campaign=partner-worshipartistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tools and song tutorials</a> to help them grow in worship musicianship. The happiest worship musicians are the ones who feel like they are answering their call to worship with passion and can express their hearts through their music. Investing in your team members’ confidence and ability will pay dividends for years to come.
You have more influence over your worship team than you do anyone else in the congregation. They are your ministry. Genuinely care for them, lead with humility, and together lift the name of Christ. That is the mark of a successful worship team.
***
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/52406365/assets/12151735/content.jpg?signature=2n-FX4YuIlWRu_vBDmobIh_OxkU" width="122" height="111">Jason Houtsma is the cofounder and guitar teacher at <a href="https://worshipartistry.com/?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=newworshipteam&amp;utm_campaign=partner-worshipartistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Worship Artistry</a>, where he is helping musicians of every level answer the call to worship with passion and confidence. Jason has been leading worship and writing music since he was 15 years old and currently serves as Worship Pastor for Mosaic Church in Bellingham, WA. He is husband to Alli and father to Bjorn and Asher.
<a href="https://faithlife.com/products/proclaim?utm_source=blog.faithlife.com&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=newworshipteam&amp;utm_campaign=partner-worshipartistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone" src="https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/51577687/assets/12026628/content.png?signature=hf9F1uIuPhPNd1CrkpZRd8krUFw" alt="" width="1200" height="350"></a>

By Jason Houtsma
I don’t know a single worship leader who doesn’t want more solid musicians on their worship team. Identifying those musicians through an audition process is the first step to getting them there. But how can you set new worship team members up for success once they’ve made the team?
Set clear expectations
A new team member is a blank slate. Setting clear expectations from the beginning will benefit you and your new team member. They don’t know the culture and are looking to you, as the leader, to define it.
Think through answers to questions like these:
How often do you practice?
What time does practice start?
When can they get in the building to set up?
How well should they know the songs when they show up?
Do you send out practice materials in advance?
If you do, when should they expect them?
What does a typical practice consist of?
What should they wear on Sunday?
Offering this information before it’s asked will communicate your expectations and build confidence in you as the leader. Both are important to your new team member.
Facilitate team relationships
Depending on the size of your church, your new worship team member may not know anyone on the team. Building in time for them to get acquainted can go a long way in settling nerves.
Don’t just invite them to practice and start playing music; properly introduce them. “Hey everyone. Before we get started, I’d like to introduce you to Jenny. She’s going to be playing piano with us.” Go around the room and have your members introduce themselves and answer a few icebreaker questions. Their name, how long they’ve been on the team, and what they enjoy most about playing for worship should be enough.
This information can make a new team player feel more at home. Bonus points if you share a few words about what you believe Jenny will bring to the team!
Be a trustworthy guide
Even after introducing them to the team, you are still the person new worship team members have had the most interaction with. Don’t leave them hanging—keep them close.
Do they seem uncomfortable? Offer some encouraging words. Make sure they are seeing your cues. If they’re missing them, pause and take time to explain what you’re doing.
Can they hear okay? Often new musicians don’t want to make waves and don’t take the time to set their monitor mix properly. Nothing undermines musical confidence like not being able to hear well. Take the time to help them get it set. They’ll thank you for it.
Debrief
When practice is over, take some one-on-one time to debrief. These sessions are your opportunity to listen, encourage, and gently critique (make sure you go in that order!).
“How was that for you?” Don’t just wait to talk—actively listen to what they are saying. After responding, take some time to praise the good things you saw. When it’s time to critique, be honest but kind. “I love the voicing you used on that chord going into the bridge. Just watch your tempo, and try to lock in with the drums.” If they didn’t meet your already-clearly-set expectations, a gentle reminder is fully appropriate.
Lower the stakes
Even with a ton of practice and prep work, chances are your new player will have some first-time jitters. Keep their responsibilities light for the first few sets. Don’t ask your new guitar player to kick off the first Hillsong tune with a big lead riff or your new vocalist to nail the high note like Kari Jobe. Give them small responsibilities first, and as they are successful with those, your confidence in them and their confidence in themselves will grow!
Care for the person over the player
One thing I’ve noticed over 20 years of leading worship is that I have to pace my players because they rarely pace themselves. It’s only natural to want to play with the best drummer all the time, but even the most enthusiastic and committed team member needs rest.
Keep communication lines open. Regularly check in and make sure they can handle the workload. If you suspect they are burning out, they probably are. Don’t be afraid to force a little time off. Just make sure they know you are doing it to protect them and give them rest, not because they’ve done anything wrong. This will not only protect them but also let them know you have their best interest in mind.
Support growth
Every new worship team member is a worship leader, so support their musical and spiritual growth. Share worship podcasts and devotionals that encourage spiritual discussion. Provide them with tools and song tutorials to help them grow in worship musicianship. The happiest worship musicians are the ones who feel like they are answering their call to worship with passion and can express their hearts through their music. Investing in your team members’ confidence and ability will pay dividends for years to come.
You have more influence over your worship team than you do anyone else in the congregation. They are your ministry. Genuinely care for them, lead with humility, and together lift the name of Christ. That is the mark of a successful worship team.
***
Jason Houtsma is the cofounder and guitar teacher at Worship Artistry, where he is helping musicians of every level answer the call to worship with passion and confidence. Jason has been leading worship and writing music since he was 15 years old and currently serves as Worship Pastor for Mosaic Church in Bellingham, WA. He is husband to Alli and father to Bjorn and Asher.

I don’t know a single worship leader who doesn’t want more solid musicians on their worship team. Identifying those musicians through an audition process is the first step to getting them there. But how can you set your new musicians up for success once they’ve made the team?

7 Ways You Can Set Up New Worship Team Members for Success

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Church volunteer mixing church sound for live stream" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-524x524.jpg 524w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />When it comes to church volunteer training, you might say, as Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ” Having helped lead volunteer teams for hospitality, care groups, women’s ministry, events, finance, and administration, I’ve seen the highs and lows of working with volunteers. [&#8230;]

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Church volunteer mixing church sound for live stream" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-166x166.jpg 166w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-524x524.jpg 524w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-24x24.jpg 24w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-48x48.jpg 48w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-96x96.jpg 96w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Church-volunteer-mixing-church-sound-for-live-stream-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />When it comes to church volunteer training, you might say, as Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ”
Having helped lead volunteer teams for hospitality, care groups, women’s ministry, events, finance, and administration, I’ve seen the highs and lows of working with volunteers. But for every faithful, responsible volunteer, you likely have a few who are poorly trained or flake out.
I won’t lie to you—sometimes I wanted to send my volunteers home and do the work myself. But that’s not what ministry is about. As Romans 12:3–8 teaches, the body of Christ needs each person using their God-given gifts to serve the church. Really, it&#8217;s worth the effort to create places for people to serve your church.
Equipping God’s people to serve the Church requires more than just a willingness to share responsibility—it takes training. So, how can busy leaders do effective church volunteer training without losing their minds?
Let’s think about four ways to train passionate, mission-focused volunteers.
<h2>1. Nourish the passion</h2>
Why do people serve in your ministry? Is it from a sense of passion or obligation?
If it’s from obligation, that won’t last long. Eventually, no one serves just because it’s on the calendar—and you don’t want those kinds of volunteers, anyway. If your church volunteers are just warm bodies filling an empty role, they won’t be serving from the heart—and you won’t be helping them grow as disciples of Jesus.
So how do you nourish the passion that led them to volunteer in the first place?
By continually reminding them of the mission in engaging ways. Your regular volunteers can easily fall into a routine where they show up, get to work, and go home—all without remembering why they’re serving.
Post your ministry’s mission statement somewhere that helps your volunteers remember why they make serving a priority. If you have a volunteer space, your mission statement makes for great wall art. Well-designed, beautiful things are more fun to look at, so please don’t just print black text on white paper, O.K.? The same goes for your regular communications, like your online communications hub and scheduling <a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/why-people-arent-reading-your-church-emails-and-how-to-fix-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emails</a>.
Create a communication group for your volunteers where you can share relevant articles or ministry tips. Read a great article on what the Bible says about hospitality? Watch a helpful training video for your presentation software? When you find something helpful, share it with your team.
Schedule regular training events to refresh your team on the mission. (I recommend at least one per year for each ministry.) One of the benefits of training events is that you get to share behind-the-scenes info that makes your volunteers feel invested and passionate about your ministry. Use these focused times to share stories of how their service makes a difference, and let them know about any big changes in store for the church.
And keep it fun. For example, I attended a kids’ ministry volunteer training that covered all these bases—and it ended with a scavenger hunt that recapped what the volunteers just heard. The scavenger hunt introduced new games, reinforced safety procedures, and helped teachers bond.
<h2>2. Train the trainers</h2>
As your ministry grows, you may be blessed with more volunteers than you can personally train in one annual event.
This is where a concept from The Trellis and the Vine (one of my favorite ministry books) comes in: train the trainers. Instead of sending 100 people through a long training event and turning them loose, invest time in training a few of your most trusted volunteers, then ask them to train 15 people each.
These smaller groups accomplish a couple of key things:
• They create ministry opportunities for high-capacity leaders. 
• They build community among people who serve together. 
• They report to you about any ministerial needs your volunteers have, so you can step in when needed.
It’s impossible to train everyone for every possible scenario, but by delegating church volunteer training to your most faithful volunteers, you make sure new people know who to ask for help.
Plus, small group training helps you match volunteers to their ministry sweet spot. You don’t want your unfriendliest member serving on your hospitality team, but maybe they’re shockingly good on drums. The better you and your leaders know each volunteer, the more you can empower them to serve from their God-given strengths.
<h2>3. Pair new volunteers with your best volunteers</h2>
The best way to help people learn is the most personal. It’s easier to learn from a person than a long, written guide or a large training event. That’s true for your church volunteers too.
Assign every new volunteer to shadow one of your strongest volunteers for at least 2–3 weeks before being released to serve on their own. Many ministries, such as your children’s ministry or care groups, require longer training before you can give volunteers full responsibility.
At its best, shadowing is a three-step process that happens over time. I’ve heard it described this way:
1. You watch, I do 
2. You do, I watch 
3. You do
This process gives new volunteers realistic expectations and gives you a chance to show the characteristics and attitudes people need to serve in your ministry. 
Do you need more volunteers with smiling faces? More adults to teach four-year-olds the motions to “My God Is So Big”? More A/V volunteers who can skip to the next slide faster than your worship leader can sing the wrong line? Partner new volunteers with experienced volunteers who model the kind of excellence your ministry needs.
<h2>4. Give volunteers ongoing training and support</h2>
Church volunteer training isn’t a one-and-done endeavor. Rather, it requires a long-term commitment from church leaders and staff—but that commitment doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
If you treat volunteering like an afterthought, your volunteers will too, and you’ll wind up with people who don’t know the guidelines, are unprepared, or don’t show up at all. Now, most volunteer opportunities in churches aren’t rocket science, but you want the people who serve in kids’ ministry to know the rules that keep kids safe. You want greeters to know how a guest can join a small group (and how not to scare guests away).
A couple simple things go a long way:
• Connect people with learning opportunities. Whether you’re creating new content or curating resources from other places, every little bit counts—and helps your volunteers feel confident and empowered. The simplest way to do this is by creating how-to and FAQ docs and videos that all volunteers have easy access to. 
• Follow up with each volunteer regularly. Depending on the size of your volunteer base, you could be reaching out to people on a quarterly or semiannual basis. I suggest having intentional, in person conversations with each volunteer at least twice a year. They aren’t just serving you and your ministry—you’re serving them too. 
• Plan to give volunteers breaks. If someone asks for a break from volunteering, it’s already too late—they’re probably burned out. As much as possible, build in breaks for people who serve regularly, especially your weekly volunteers.
***
<h3>Related articles</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/get-church-volunteers/">How to Get &amp; Keep Happy Church Volunteers [Practical Tips]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.faithlife.com/church-volunteer-burnout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12 Ways to Fight Church Volunteer Burnout</a></li>
</ul>

When it comes to church volunteer training, you might say, as Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ”
Having helped lead volunteer teams for hospitality, care groups, women’s ministry, events, finance, and administration, I’ve seen the highs and lows of working with volunteers. But for every faithful, responsible volunteer, you likely have a few who are poorly trained or flake out.
I won’t lie to you—sometimes I wanted to send my volunteers home and do the work myself. But that’s not what ministry is about. As Romans 12:3–8 teaches, the body of Christ needs each person using their God-given gifts to serve the church. Really, it’s worth the effort to create places for people to serve your church.
Equipping God’s people to serve the Church requires more than just a willingness to share responsibility—it takes training. So, how can busy leaders do effective church volunteer training without losing their minds?
Let’s think about four ways to train passionate, mission-focused volunteers.
1. Nourish the passion
Why do people serve in your ministry? Is it from a sense of passion or obligation?
If it’s from obligation, that won’t last long. Eventually, no one serves just because it’s on the calendar—and you don’t want those kinds of volunteers, anyway. If your church volunteers are just warm bodies filling an empty role, they won’t be serving from the heart—and you won’t be helping them grow as disciples of Jesus.
So how do you nourish the passion that led them to volunteer in the first place?
By continually reminding them of the mission in engaging ways. Your regular volunteers can easily fall into a routine where they show up, get to work, and go home—all without remembering why they’re serving.
Post your ministry’s mission statement somewhere that helps your volunteers remember why they make serving a priority. If you have a volunteer space, your mission statement makes for great wall art. Well-designed, beautiful things are more fun to look at, so please don’t just print black text on white paper, O.K.? The same goes for your regular communications, like your online communications hub and scheduling emails.
Create a communication group for your volunteers where you can share relevant articles or ministry tips. Read a great article on what the Bible says about hospitality? Watch a helpful training video for your presentation software? When you find something helpful, share it with your team.
Schedule regular training events to refresh your team on the mission. (I recommend at least one per year for each ministry.) One of the benefits of training events is that you get to share behind-the-scenes info that makes your volunteers feel invested and passionate about your ministry. Use these focused times to share stories of how their service makes a difference, and let them know about any big changes in store for the church.
And keep it fun. For example, I attended a kids’ ministry volunteer training that covered all these bases—and it ended with a scavenger hunt that recapped what the volunteers just heard. The scavenger hunt introduced new games, reinforced safety procedures, and helped teachers bond.
2. Train the trainers
As your ministry grows, you may be blessed with more volunteers than you can personally train in one annual event.
This is where a concept from The Trellis and the Vine (one of my favorite ministry books) comes in: train the trainers. Instead of sending 100 people through a long training event and turning them loose, invest time in training a few of your most trusted volunteers, then ask them to train 15 people each.
These smaller groups accomplish a couple of key things:
• They create ministry opportunities for high-capacity leaders.
It’s impossible to train everyone for every possible scenario, but by delegating church volunteer training to your most faithful volunteers, you make sure new people know who to ask for help.
Plus, small group training helps you match volunteers to their ministry sweet spot. You don’t want your unfriendliest member serving on your hospitality team, but maybe they’re shockingly good on drums. The better you and your leaders know each volunteer, the more you can empower them to serve from their God-given strengths.
3. Pair new volunteers with your best volunteers
The best way to help people learn is the most personal. It’s easier to learn from a person than a long, written guide or a large training event. That’s true for your church volunteers too.
Assign every new volunteer to shadow one of your strongest volunteers for at least 2–3 weeks before being released to serve on their own. Many ministries, such as your children’s ministry or care groups, require longer training before you can give volunteers full responsibility.
At its best, shadowing is a three-step process that happens over time. I’ve heard it described this way:
1. You watch, I do
This process gives new volunteers realistic expectations and gives you a chance to show the characteristics and attitudes people need to serve in your ministry. 
Do you need more volunteers with smiling faces? More adults to teach four-year-olds the motions to “My God Is So Big”? More A/V volunteers who can skip to the next slide faster than your worship leader can sing the wrong line? Partner new volunteers with experienced volunteers who model the kind of excellence your ministry needs.
4. Give volunteers ongoing training and support
Church volunteer training isn’t a one-and-done endeavor. Rather, it requires a long-term commitment from church leaders and staff—but that commitment doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
If you treat volunteering like an afterthought, your volunteers will too, and you’ll wind up with people who don’t know the guidelines, are unprepared, or don’t show up at all. Now, most volunteer opportunities in churches aren’t rocket science, but you want the people who serve in kids’ ministry to know the rules that keep kids safe. You want greeters to know how a guest can join a small group (and how not to scare guests away).
A couple simple things go a long way:
• Connect people with learning opportunities. Whether you’re creating new content or curating resources from other places, every little bit counts—and helps your volunteers feel confident and empowered. The simplest way to do this is by creating how-to and FAQ docs and videos that all volunteers have easy access to.
Follow up with each volunteer regularly. Depending on the size of your volunteer base, you could be reaching out to people on a quarterly or semiannual basis. I suggest having intentional, in person conversations with each volunteer at least twice a year. They aren’t just serving you and your ministry—you’re serving them too.
Plan to give volunteers breaks. If someone asks for a break from volunteering, it’s already too late—they’re probably burned out. As much as possible, build in breaks for people who serve regularly, especially your weekly volunteers.
***
Related articles
How to Get & Keep Happy Church Volunteers [Practical Tips]
12 Ways to Fight Church Volunteer Burnout

When it comes to church volunteer training, you might say, as Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ” Having helped lead volunteer teams for hospitality, care groups, women’s ministry, events, finance, and administration, I’ve seen the highs and lows of working with volunteers. […]

4 Essential Steps for Church Volunteer Training

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-166x166.jpg 166w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Social media for churches is about relationships. And just like any relationship, a little goes a long way—as long as the little is consistent.

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-150x150.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" srcset="https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-204x204.jpg 204w, https://blog.faithlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2020-01-24-at-4.12.47-PM-166x166.jpg 166w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />By Amber Smith and Matthew Boffey
Social media for churches is about relationships. And just like any relationship, a little goes a long way—as long as the little is consistent.
Here are 10 easy wins for an effective social media presence.
<h2>1. Post once or twice a&nbsp;day.</h2>
The most important thing is that you do it. Posting once or twice a day keeps you consistent without over-posting and exhausting your audience. Try to post when people are likely scrolling, like first thing in the morning, during lunch, or just after work.
<h2>2. Share your events.</h2>
Since there’s no replacement for in-person community, prioritize events. Include a high-quality image that clearly explains the when, where, and what. You can share on Facebook or Faithlife (use the RSVP feature), as well as Instagram and Twitter—which allows your core community to spread the word, too.
<h2>3. Help people visit.</h2>
Make your church name and location clear and accessible on each platform. When people are looking for a church to attend, they’ll look on social media. Make sure they can find your service times and location quickly. If they have to search for too long, they’ll probably give up.
<h2>4. Use hashtags.</h2>
Think of hashtags as conversation topics. For example, use #womensretreat2022 in all your event promotion, and then encourage attendees to use it when they post on Instagram. At the end of the weekend, #womensretreat2022 essentially holds a photo album of memories and allows attendees to keep interacting. That’s relationship.
<h2>5. Have brand consistency.</h2>
Stick to a similar image style and theme in your content. When sharing sermon quotes, use the same style template for each image. When sharing events, use a similar format each time. Think of it like the style of a living room—one style, all the time.
<h2>6. Use Instagram Stories.</h2>
Many like to use this feature to be relatable and slightly more casual in voice and tone. With all the options to add text and stickers, you can play around with making it unique. Share about the different ministries in your church, or give a shout-out to a specific member.
<h2>7. Get design help.</h2>
There are so many helpful options out there to get you up and running. With tools like Canva, Crello, Snappa, and many others, you can customize images and create beautiful pieces of content that match the branding of your church.
<h2>8. Schedule your posts.</h2>
Make a list of all the content ideas you have and find strategic places to add them to the calendar. Account for the rhythm of the seasons. During busy times like Christmas and Easter, promote your events. During downtime, post engaging questions or quotes.
<h2>9. Respond.</h2>
Since the point of social media is building relationships, one of the most important things you can do is respond. Whether the comment is positive, negative, or neutral, responding is the best way to keep the engagement going. It also shows that your church is active, available, and caring.
<h2>10. Share the love.</h2>
Reshare local events, interesting articles, or content from other ministries and churches. This shows that you’re a team player and broadens your reach. It allows new people to see your content—which could be their first opportunity to hear about your church.
***
Want to develop your church&#8217;s social media policy or plans? You can <a href="https://churchmarketinguniversity.com/social-media-policies-churches-ministries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download a free social media template</a>, or <a href="https://churchmarketinguniversity.com/social-media-policies-churches-ministries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out what other churches and denominations</a> are doing for inspiration.
This article on social media for churches is adapted from the February 2020 edition of Ministry Team magazine.

By Amber Smith and Matthew Boffey
Social media for churches is about relationships. And just like any relationship, a little goes a long way—as long as the little is consistent.
Here are 10 easy wins for an effective social media presence.
1. Post once or twice a day.
The most important thing is that you do it. Posting once or twice a day keeps you consistent without over-posting and exhausting your audience. Try to post when people are likely scrolling, like first thing in the morning, during lunch, or just after work.
2. Share your events.
Since there’s no replacement for in-person community, prioritize events. Include a high-quality image that clearly explains the when, where, and what. You can share on Facebook or Faithlife (use the RSVP feature), as well as Instagram and Twitter—which allows your core community to spread the word, too.
3. Help people visit.
Make your church name and location clear and accessible on each platform. When people are looking for a church to attend, they’ll look on social media. Make sure they can find your service times and location quickly. If they have to search for too long, they’ll probably give up.
4. Use hashtags.
Think of hashtags as conversation topics. For example, use #womensretreat2022 in all your event promotion, and then encourage attendees to use it when they post on Instagram. At the end of the weekend, #womensretreat2022 essentially holds a photo album of memories and allows attendees to keep interacting. That’s relationship.
5. Have brand consistency.
Stick to a similar image style and theme in your content. When sharing sermon quotes, use the same style template for each image. When sharing events, use a similar format each time. Think of it like the style of a living room—one style, all the time.
6. Use Instagram Stories.
Many like to use this feature to be relatable and slightly more casual in voice and tone. With all the options to add text and stickers, you can play around with making it unique. Share about the different ministries in your church, or give a shout-out to a specific member.
7. Get design help.
There are so many helpful options out there to get you up and running. With tools like Canva, Crello, Snappa, and many others, you can customize images and create beautiful pieces of content that match the branding of your church.
8. Schedule your posts.
Make a list of all the content ideas you have and find strategic places to add them to the calendar. Account for the rhythm of the seasons. During busy times like Christmas and Easter, promote your events. During downtime, post engaging questions or quotes.
9. Respond.
Since the point of social media is building relationships, one of the most important things you can do is respond. Whether the comment is positive, negative, or neutral, responding is the best way to keep the engagement going. It also shows that your church is active, available, and caring.
10. Share the love.
Reshare local events, interesting articles, or content from other ministries and churches. This shows that you’re a team player and broadens your reach. It allows new people to see your content—which could be their first opportunity to hear about your church.
***
Want to develop your church’s social media policy or plans? You can download a free social media template, or check out what other churches and denominations are doing for inspiration.
This article on social media for churches is adapted from the February 2020 edition of Ministry Team magazine.

Social media for churches is about relationships. And just like any relationship, a little goes a long way—as long as the little is consistent.

10 Quick Social Media Wins for Your Church

In the early days of my ministry, it was acknowledged that culture shifts and looks different every three to five years. Whether we’re talking about fashion, music, slang, or mindsets, it’s more than just fads; it’s a gradual shift in the way we interact with the world around us.  Today, this shift doesn’t occur every [&#8230;]
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In the early days of my ministry, it was acknowledged that culture shifts and looks different every three to five years. Whether we’re talking about fashion, music, slang, or mindsets, it’s more than just fads; it’s a gradual shift in the way we interact with the world around us.  Today, this shift doesn’t occur every […]
The post What Do Young Adults Need in Bible Study?  appeared first on Bible Studies for Life.

What Do Young Adults Need in Bible Study? 

Date: June 11, 2023 Moses and Joshua  The Point: Mentor and disciple those who come after you. Get Into the Study Use the following after discussing Question #1 and calling attention to The Point. The news of Tim Keller’s death on Friday, May 19 brought a unified sense of sadness over the loss of such [&#8230;]
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Date: June 11, 2023 Moses and Joshua  The Point: Mentor and disciple those who come after you. Get Into the Study Use the following after discussing Question #1 and calling attention to The Point. The news of Tim Keller’s death on Friday, May 19 brought a unified sense of sadness over the loss of such […]
The post EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – Mentoring: Investing in Others – Session 2 appeared first on Bible Studies for Life.

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Sunday, June 4, 2023Preschool and Kids: Josiah Obeyed God&#8217;s Word
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Sunday, June 4, 2023Preschool and Kids: Josiah Obeyed God’s Word
The post Summer 2023 PS/Kids Unit 1, Session 1 Weekly Leader Training appeared first on Bible Studies for Life.

Summer 2023 PS/Kids Unit 1, Session 1 Weekly Leader Training

Date: June 4, 2023 Jethro and Moses The Point: Be ready to give and receive godly wisdom. Get Into the Study Use this story after discussing Question 1. About a month ago, surveillance cameras captured footage of a baby in a stroller rolling toward a busy highway. The frightening video quickly went viral. While the baby’s [&#8230;]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://biblestudiesforlife.lifeway.com/extra-ideas-for-adults-mentoring-investing-in-others-session-1/">EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – Mentoring: Investing in Others – Session 1</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://biblestudiesforlife.lifeway.com">Bible Studies for Life</a>.

Date: June 4, 2023 Jethro and Moses The Point: Be ready to give and receive godly wisdom. Get Into the Study Use this story after discussing Question 1. About a month ago, surveillance cameras captured footage of a baby in a stroller rolling toward a busy highway. The frightening video quickly went viral. While the baby’s […]
The post EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – Mentoring: Investing in Others – Session 1 appeared first on Bible Studies for Life.

EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – Mentoring: Investing in Others – Session 1

Sunday, May 28, 2023Preschool and Kids: Peter Baptized Cornelius
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Sunday, May 28, 2023Preschool and Kids: Peter Baptized Cornelius
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Spring 2023 PS/Kids Unit 3, Session 4 Weekly Leader Training

Results of the survey found in the Daily Discipleship Guide will be posted here on February 10, 2023.
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://biblestudiesforlife.lifeway.com/results-of-the-winter-2023-24-daily-discipleship-guide-survey/">Results of the Winter 2023-24 Daily Discipleship Guide Survey</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://biblestudiesforlife.lifeway.com">Bible Studies for Life</a>.

Results of the survey found in the Daily Discipleship Guide will be posted here on February 10, 2023.
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Results of the Winter 2023-24 Daily Discipleship Guide Survey

Owning a Faith That Matters &#8211; Session 4 &#8211; Daily Bread
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Owning a Faith That Matters – Session 4 – Daily Bread
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Placeholder for Winter Bonus Content #5

Owning a Faith That Matters &#8211; Session 2 &#8211; Roman Centurion
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Owning a Faith That Matters – Session 2 – Roman Centurion
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Placeholder for Winter Bonus Content #4

Owning a Faith That Matters Study Introduction
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Owning a Faith That Matters Study Introduction
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A Name Like No Other &#8211; Sesson 6 &#8211; Biblical use of metaphor in Psalm 91
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A Name Like No Other – Sesson 6 – Biblical use of metaphor in Psalm 91
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