In Preventing Ministry Failure, Wilson and Hoffman’s opening comment regarding intimacy well states the underlying cultural issue around the topic of intimacy. “Unfortunately the word intimacy has been so overused and misused that some people cringe when they hear it.”[1] In our modern culture most people think of intimacy merely as romantic or sexual. This is because most humans fail to understand or achieve true biblical intimacy in their lives, so instead they boil it down to actions that should be the outflow of intimacy but in and of themselves fail to produce true intimacy. This leads to great disappointment and hopelessness. When the physical acts they believe to be intimacy fail to meet the need for true intimacy in their lives they are left empty and further disillusioned.

The authors also correctly pointed out that God created humans with a need for intimacy in three key areas: “with God, with others, and with a spouse.”[2] This points to the bigger stage on which intimacy is meant to play its key role, community. God designed humans for relationships. This is made clear both in the creation account in Genesis and the doctrines of the Trinity and Imago Dei. Made in the image of a Triune God who functions in perfect intimacy within His three beings we also were made to best function in relationships of intimate community. True intimacy was modeled in the Garden between God, Adam, and Eve. Prior to the fall they all fully knew each other and were fully known. However sin broke the natural flow of such intimacy by separating us from God and each other and introducing, “fear, shame, hiding, and blaming.”[3] These parts of our humanity became personal roadblocks to achieving the intimacy our soul so deeply craves. Yet, the truth of the matter is that without true biblical intimacy a person will never be satisfied or complete. Life will never be what it was meant to be short of intimate relationships with both God and people. Intimacy is essential to every human life because that is the way God designed it to be.

Three different New Testament passages including Matthew 6:6-13, Luke 15:11-27, and Romans 8:15 emphasize that a Christian’s relationship with God is to be a child/father relationship. This type of analogy can be very helpful or cumbersome to a person depending on their concept of a child/father relationship. In our day many people grow up without the influence or presence of a good father, and this can drastically taint their understanding of God as their heavenly father. Yet these passages go on to illustrate not just that God is our Father, but that He is our perfect, loving, and gracious father. In fact these passages show how God is actually the perfect fatherly model that we human father’s should ascribe to be. This is completely different than any other religion in all of World History. Never before has a deity described Himself as Father or sought such a level of familial intimacy with mankind. Nowhere else can we find such hope, trust, protection, love, and refuge than with our Heavenly Father, who is Lord over all things.  He does not want distant servants, but close personal children. A fully orbed gospel relationship can only exist under this level of relational intimacy with God.

The audio for the sermon is available in iTunes or on our website, but I also thought I would give a general overview in this post.

In this sermon we looked at 5 Lies this World Teaches About Money and the biblical truth that refutes them.

1. It’s all about the Benjamins!

Truth: God is King and money is to be used to serve Him well. – 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

2. I worked hard for MY money!

Truth: All good gifts come from God including your wealth and ability to earn that wealth. – Deuteronomy 8:17-18

3. The purpose of money is to make me happy!

Truth: God blesses His saints so they might in turn generously bless others in His name and for His glory and their own good. – 1 Timothy 6:17-19

4. Just a little more money will finally be enough!

Truth: God promises to provide all our needs if we put our hope and trust in Him and are content with His provision. – Hebrews 13:5

5. If I give enough of my money God will bless me!

Truth: God desires an obedient, loving, sacrificial giver not an obligated, expectant, demanding giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Again this is a very general overview. We covered each point in a lot more depth, and covered a lot more scriptures in our time together. To get the full breadth of it check out the audio links a the top of this post.

–Wholly Surrender!

It is our official due date, and Baby Girl Mathis is still holding out.

This is worst than the night before your leave for Disney World. So much anticipation and expectation, yet no idea of when resolution will come. No plan. No schedule. No real answers.

That is extremely difficult for us. We are both huge planners and poor “waiters”. We are ready to get this show on the road and experience the new life God has in store for us. Not to mention Courtney is growing increasingly more uncomfortable by the day.

Still we know that His timing is perfect and that His sovereignty rules the day.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.

So we do. We wait (as if we had much choice) with eager hearts and hopeful dreams that today might be THE DAY.

–Wholly Surrender!

Luke 8:22-25

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

I know this is just another case of, “I’ve read this before, but where did that come from?”

Still this simple text brought great personal realization and humility to me this week.

In the verses and chapters prior we have seen Christ traveling, teaching, preaching, healing, giving, …working. He and the disciples have been working hard and now they have a moment of peace and calm as they sail to their next destination. So what does Christ do… He finds a secluded place on the boat and goes to sleep. In this moment we see a clear picture of Christ’s humanity.

He was just like you and I, flesh and blood, weary, and in desperate need of rest. He submitted Himself to the same physical limitations you and I have. He confined Himself to the same temporal, decaying, mortal tents we live in everyday. He felt adrenaline, fatigue, achiness, and most of all pain. Jesus fully knew what it meant to human.

But then in a matter of minutes we equally see His Deity manifest itself in all its magnificent glory. He rises from His sleep and with the utmost authority commands Creation to cease its uproar. Without hesitation or second guess He rose above the confines of this world and took His rightful place as Creator God.

This dichotomy of 100% God and 100% Man is found only in the person of Jesus Christ. No one else in the history of the World has had that experience. No one else in the World ever has or ever will accomplish what He accomplished as the God-Man. His victory over sin as the Son of Man, and His victory over death as the Son of God simultaneously changed history for all of eternity at the hill called Mount Calvary.

The same God-Man status that redeemed all of creation is the same God-Man status that the disciples were witness to over and over again during their earthly ministry with Christ, and it is the same status that inspires us to trust in and follow Him today.

–Wholly Surrender!

This past year and half has been one of much change around the Mathis household. We became pregnant with our first child, we miscarried, Courtney quit teaching, we followed God into full-time ministry, became pregnant with our second child, moved to a new town/state, started serving at a new church, and now are eagerly anticipating our first birth and second child.

Change is offensive, frightening, and exciting all at the same time. In fact change might be the most complex experience we face as humans. It is complex for us due to our lack of sovereignty. See God doesn’t have this problem because a) He doesn’t change (Heb. 13:8, Malachi 3:6), and b) he is omniscient (Psalm 147:4-5, Isaiah 46:10) making all change outside of himself a foreknown conclusion and therefore not complex.

Still God understands change because He understands all things and Jesus experienced much change during His time on earth. Not only does He understand it, but in His Word he declares the necessity and inevitability of change.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

The encouraging thing about that is that no matter how much this change, or any other change for that matter, catches me off guard I know that it never caught God off guard. No God knew it was coming the whole time and that is reassuring because I know that if I trust Him with my whole life He will take care of me and my family and it will all come together for His glory and my good.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Did you catch that last part? “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me….” I think that is why God doesn’t allow us to be sovereign, and why He places change in our lives. Because when everything is going along just fine and dandy I tend to get self-sufficient and forget about my Savior. However, in times of change I seek Him. I call upon Him and pray to Him, and thanks be to God that He allows me to find Him again.

So we face this change and look to the future for His Promise of Hope knowing it will all be for His glory and our good.

–Wholly Surrender!

So I managed to dig it up, but I do need to offer a few clarifying points before you listen.

1. This talk was written for and delivered to a consortium of pastors, therefore some of the material is directed solely at them and may not be applicable to all lay people.

2. The first recording CD ran out of space and we had to quickly switch to a second cd to get the remainder of the talk. So most of point three is missing, and then the recording picks back up at the beginning of point four.

Well then without further ado here you go. I hope it is beneficial for you.

Nuts & Bolts of Corporate Discipleship

Download audio file (Nuts&BoltsOfCorporateDiscipleship.mp3)

–Wholly Surrender!

Well I am not going to do a full album review today, but rather I want to delve into one song that has struck me. Before I do that I will quickly say that Starfield‘s new record Saving One is really good, and I would totally recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.

Having said that Something to Say in one of the tracks on the new album that has really impacted me. Here are the lyrics for those of you who have not yet heard it:

I’ve got something to say
It’s been one of those days
When I’m finding it hard to believe in You

I’ve got something to say
I’ve forgotten how to pray
And I’m finding it hard to believe the truth

I’ve got something to say
Right now it feels like You are slipping away
Like I am drowning in a crisis of faith
Like I’m alone

I’ve got something to say
What was black and white is grey
And I’m finding it hard to believe in You

And faith might mean there won’t be answers
And hope might mean enduring through the night
But help me not forget in darkness
The things that I believed in light

I’ve got something to say
Right now it feels like You are slipping away
Like I am drowning in a crisis of faith
Like I was found, but now I’m lost in the fray

Granted they are not the most theologically/doctrinally deep lyrics, but they attempt to express (but thankfully not answer) the nagging question that I think all Christians deal with at some point in their spiritual lives. The song honestly and openly confesses how our humanness can sometimes interfere and even defeat our faith in our great Savior.

It is a hard confession to make, and brings about an even harder questions to face. What does it mean that my faith can be broken? What does it say about me and my relationship with Jesus I doubt? What does it express about my God, and most importantly what does He think about me when it happens?

I have had many conversations surrounding these very questions with friends, family, and even myself. I can’t say that I necessarily have definitive answers to all of them, and am not sure we even can have generic answers that fit ever situation such as this. I believe these are matters of the heart and moments of testing that are best left to the discernment and personal conviction of the Holy Spirit.

However, the bridge of this song (bold section above) did bring me new clarity and personal revelation about how I perceive these times in my life.

See often when faced with hardships, temptations, trials, or attacks I cling to my faith and hope in Jesus because I expect He will deliver me. That is good, but when the answers don’t come in the variety or time table I expect that same faith and hope inexcusably starts to fade. So as this song so eloquently reminds me, I have to ground my faith and hope in the truth of who He is, not in past or future outcomes.

Lord Jesus, please help me to remember in the darkness what I believed in the light!

–Wholly Surrender!

I was asked to speak on The Nuts and Bolts of Corporate Discipleship. So while the main goal of my talk was to give specifics on how we disciple believers here at Calvary, I also wanted to start with a challenge and exhortation about discipleship in general. So I did that by outlining and discussing the following ten discipleship truths spoke by Christ in Matthew 10:24-42.

1. It requires the Pastor/Leader be a disciple & a disciple maker. – v. 24-25
2. It requires embracing change. – v. 27-28
3. It requires trusting & following God’s sovereignty. – v. 29-31
4. It requires personal commitment & surrender. – v. 32-33
5. It requires bearing trials & tribulations. – v.34-36
6. It requires single-minded undivided worship. – v. 37
7. It requires personal sacrifice. – v. 38
8. It requires denial of self. – v. 39
9. It requires proper motives & purpose. – v. 40-41
10. It requires service. – v.42

I considered unpacking each one of those and explaining in more depth what I shared today, but instead I think it might be more beneficial for you to read each truth, the verses, that accompany it, and then prayerfully and humbly ask God to reveal how each of these truths needs to speak into your own life.

You might even want to take one a day for a week and half and just meditate on each one.

Maybe later on when I have more time I can flesh out more details on each one, but I know that Holy Spirit is a much better teach and interpreter than I could ever be so trust Him to speak to you through this simple outline and accompanying scriptures.

We could all stand to deeper evaluate our walk with Christ and commitment to discipleship. Hopefully this will help you in that endeavor.

–Wholly Surrender!

Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God’s free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you’re better
You will never come at all

This is a powerful song because those words declare the hearts of so many. When many hear this song they immediately think back to their own salvation when Christ rescued them from death and restored them to new life in Him. The remember the declaration of James:

James 4:8

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

However as I reminded our congregation on Wednesday night it is important that we not mistake this song and these words as being solely for unbelievers. No, in fact every single one of us is a sinner. Some of us are sinners saved by grace, but sinners nonetheless. Paul made this very clear by his own declaration:

1 Timothy 1:15

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Some might be offended by that, or resent the thought that they who have been redeemed are still sinners. On the contrary I find great hope and relief in that fact. See I have been following Christ for many years now, but just like Paul it seems that I progress deeper into my walk with Christ the more I realize the depth and magnitude of my sinful ways. The more I learn from Jesus the more I realize how much I need Him to continually rescue me from this fallen world and my sinful nature.

So I am thankful for the truth of this song. There are so many days that I am “weary and heavy laden, ruined by the fall” and I need His arms to carry me and I need His ten thousands charms to revive and delight my soul.

In the Song of Solomon we see a beautiful picture of what our relationship with God should be.

Song of Solomon 7:6

How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms!

That revelation is for both believer and unbelievers alike. We all need His arms of love to save us for no other source can even come close to His ten thousand charms.

–Wholly Surrender!

I always loved the interchange between these two characters partly because of the cool, calm, and collected way Michael Douglas handled the situation, but also because it is a testament to how differently we as humans respond to various people and roles. When she thought he was absent or just some guy she new she spoke self-confidently, honestly, and without regard for his person or position. However, as soon as she met him “face-to-face” her tone, words, and respect completely changed.

This past Sunday as we were studying the Gospel of Luke in our class we came across a similar situation.

Luke 5:4-9

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

When Jesus first instructed Simon to put down his nets Simon’s response is not surprising.

Simon was professional fisherman with a whole fleet of ships and other men working with/for him. They had been fishing hard all night with nothing to show for it, and now it was clock-out time. They were already cleaning up their nets and headed home when this guy asked to use his boat in the first place. Now this Jewish Rabbi/Carpenter was trying to tell him how to fish?

Still Peter tried to show some respect by calling Him Master, or in other words Teacher/Rabbi. See in this day Rabbis were kind of like rockstars in the Jewish culture. Not that they necessarily had giant egos, tattoos, trendy hair/clothing, and expensive cars/homes, but who knows maybe some did. No it was more that this role of a Jewish Rabbi was the greatest honor and dream of Jewish males. Only the best of the best were selected to train and become Rabbis.

So Peter essentially responds, “Great Teacher I am almost certain this is futile, but since you are a Rabbi and all I will indulge your request.”

So Peter goes fishing again and finds a miraculous catch of fish. So many in fact he has to quickly get the other boats in his fleet out to help bring them all in.

Then we see a distinct change in Peter’s perspective. Notice how he talk to Jesus now.

Luke 5:8

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

No more of this condensing Master talk. Embarrassed and humbled he falls at Jesus’s feet and admits his own sinful and unworthy state. Being the expert fisherman that he was he immediately recognized this as a miracle, and in turn recognized Christ’s great deity.

That is what happens at the true conversion of a Christian. There comes a point in one’s life where they come face to face with the majesty and deity of Jesus Christ which in turn exposes their great pride and sinful state. At that point one of two responses is possible. A. the person pridefully rebels further away from Christ the Pharisees did later in Matthew Chapter 5, or B. the person humbly falls at the feet of Christ to admit their need for rescue.

The true revelation of Christ by the Holy Spirit is a perspective changer. It exposes us for who we really are, but more importantly it reveals the the only true hope that we have is in Christ Jesus and His gracious gift of redemption and rescue. Peter experienced it. Have you?

If so your life will be one of complete surrender just like Peter’s was:

Luke 5:11

When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

–Wholly Surrender!