Kids & Kingdom- Children in the Covenant: Teach Them Diligently

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & Kingdom2 Comments

In my previous post, we considered the promises that God made to his people and how each of those promises found their fulfillment in Christ. God promised his people that he would crush Satan, bless the nations, reign forever, and save his people, all through the gift of offspring. All of these promises, just like every promise of God, “find their yes” in Christ (2 Cor 1:20).

However, God did not expect his people to be passive bystanders as he fulfilled his promises. He called them to faith-motivated action. After promising Abraham that he would make him into a great nation, God asked him to sacrifice his only son (which God stopped and provided a substitute for, by the way). After promising the Israelites that he would rescue them from slavery in Egypt, he asked them to follow him into the wilderness (including walking through the sea!). After promising Israel a land to inherit, he asked them to trust him and take the land even though their enemies were stronger and more numerous.

When God makes promises, he wants us to trust him and act on that trust. When he made promises to Israel regarding offspring and children, he expected his people to trust him and obey him. But what did obedience look like, and what does it look like for us?

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Kids & Kingdom – Children in the Covenant: The Heart of God’s Promises

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & Kingdom2 Comments

In my previous post, we observed the sin and brokenness that entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating from the forbidden tree. However, we also noted that God continued working after the Fall in and through dysfunctional families to accomplish his purposes. In this chapter we will look at how God continued working through those families.

After the events of Genesis 3, God still intended to fill the earth with image bearers who reflected his glory and enjoyed relating to him. That is why he gave the command to be fruitful and multiple again after the Fall. And God would fulfill this plan, even in a world broken by sin, by making promises that would be fulfilled through the gift of children; promises that he would keep from generation to generation until the ultimate gift of his Son.

These promises are the bedrock of the Bible. Without them, there’s no redemptive storyline, no Savior, no salvation. But with them, the glory and perfection of Eden that was lost can be found again. God’s original purpose for mankind can be restored. A new heaven and a new earth can be inaugurated. Thank God for these promises! Let’s look at each of them in turn.

God’s Promise to Crush Satan (Genesis 3:15)

God’s first promise is embedded in the same infamous chapter in which sin enters the world. When God confronts Adam and Eve, he pronounces a curse upon the serpent for deceiving them, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). Here we see a battle that will take place throughout the rest of the Bible: the offspring of the serpent vs. the offspring of the woman. This does not mean that the offspring of the woman will always be righteous, however, but that from generation to generation, God will have a people, and those people will have to continually wage spiritual warfare against the serpent and his minions.

The ultimate offspring promised in Genesis 3:15 is Jesus. He is the perfect righteous one, the seed of the woman who stands at enmity with the serpent himself. The verse contains two interesting lines that describe their enmity. The serpent will “bruise the heel” of the woman’s offspring, but he will “bruise your head.” Some sort of battle will occur where the serpent inflicts a minor injury on the Eve’s offspring (i.e. his heel), but where he bruises (or crushes- NIV) the serpent’s head. In other words, the serpent will strike and injure the promised offspring, but the injured offspring will deal the death blow to the serpent.

This verse is fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Though Satan “bruised his heel” through the religious leaders and Romans that crucified Jesus, Jesus crushed the head of Satan, dealing the victorious blow to mankind’s foe. When speaking of Jesus’ work on the cross, Paul writes, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col 2:15).

When speaking of rulers and authorities, Paul includes both the earthly rulers and authorities but also the spiritual ones behind them. And who are the spiritual authorities that Jesus puts to open shame and triumphs over, if not the serpent and his offspring? Indeed, he leads his people “in triumphal procession” over them, because he has rescued us from the their kingdom of the darkness and brought us into his kingdom of light (2 Cor 2:14; Col 1:13). He has crushed the head of the serpent and the heads of his offspring, and will continue to rescue his people from Satan’s rule until the day when final victory comes (Rev 12:7-12).

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Kids & Kingdom- What is the Imago Dei, Anyways?

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & KingdomLeave a comment

Back to Genesis. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Gen 1:26). As we saw in my first post in this series, this verse informs God’s mandate to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ in Genesis 1:28. God wanted Adam and Eve to fill the earth with fellow image bearers of God.

The concept of being created the image of God has historically been referred to by the Latin phrase imago dei, and it has received a lot of attention throughout church history with many asking, “what is the image of God?”

Having an accurate answer to the question is a necessity. If we are called to multiply image bearers, what are we called to multiply? What does it mean to bear God’s image? Do we still bear God’s image after the fall? If so, in what ways? And why does it matter? I want to answer all of these questions in this chapter, because I  believe that comprehending the imago dei helps us read the Bible better, appreciate work of Christ more, and understand our role as parents more clearly.

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Kids & Kingdom- Children After the Fall: Difficult Discipleship

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & Kingdom2 Comments

If the contents of my first post seemed too idealistic, this post may seem too realistic. Many parents or teachers may not feel like the language of the previous chapter- blessing and privilege and joy- describes their current experience with kids. These words are true of children, as we saw in Psalm 127,  but other words may also describe the reality of raising them: frustration, impatience, and difficulty. Why is this so? Because the serenity of the first chapter of Genesis quickly turns into chaos a few chapters later. And we live (and have kids) in the aftermath of the latter.

God’s first mandate to be fruitful and multiply was given before the fall, before sin entered the world. Thus, being fruitful and multiplying would have naturally led to filling the earth with children who grew up to be adults who walked with God in perfect harmony like Adam and Eve did. That was the ideal.

Raising children in a pre-fall environment would have been relatively uncomplicated. Imagine raising a toddler who isn’t filled with impassioned rage when you give him the wrong color cereal bowl or teenager who doesn’t struggle with pride or self-image. Unfortunately, no child was ever born into that environment.

When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, they sinned against God. They declared themselves to be the masters of their lives instead of submitting to God’s lordship and authority. They fractured the relationship they previously enjoyed by rebelling against their Creator. Instead of looking to, worshiping, and following the One who made them, they looked to, worshiped, and followed their own selfish desires. As a result, the serpent’s promise came true: their eyes were opened and they knew good and evil. But their newfound experiential knowledge of evil came with a great cost.

Everything Is Broken

The primary effect of Adam and Eve’s sin was the fracture in their relationship with God. The innocence and intimacy they enjoyed with him was broken. The ripple effect of that fracture spilled over into every aspect of their lives. Everything about life became more difficult, because everything in life was broken because of sin. That’s what theologians call “the curse of sin.”

There are several aspects to this curse. First, Adam and Eve recognize that they are naked and make clothes (Gen 3:7). A lot more difficult than wearing your birthday suit every day. Second, they hide from God (Gen 3:8). Their relationship with him is now hindered by shame and guilt. Third, there is enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen 3:15). We see the difficulty of their warfare all throughout the Bible and around us still today.

Fourth, the woman’s pain in childbearing is increased (Gen 3:16). The blessing of giving birth now comes with hardship and pain from the moment of conception until the moment of birth. Many women may struggle to get pregnant or stay pregnant, both of which are effects of child birth in a fallen world. Even those who do carry to full term experience discomfort and pain, and many mothers give their lives in child birth.

Fifth, the relationship between husband and wife will be difficult due to contrary desires (Gen 3:16). Sixth, all work will be more difficult, plagued by the effects of sin (symbolized by thorns, Gen 3:17). Finally, mankind will return to dust. They will die because death now reigns (Gen 3:19). All of life will be a struggle all the way up until the final struggle of death. Everything is more difficult now.

This is the environment that children are born into. In fact, it begins before they’re even born. Couples may struggle to get pregnant, experience miscarriages, or give birth to stillborn babies. And once they’re born, it doesn’t get any easier, because parents, who are sinners themselves, are tasked with raising other sinners in a world plagued by the deadly effects of sin.

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Kids & Kingdom- Introduction

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & Kingdom1 Comment

There’s an old saying, “kids don’t come with a manual,” and it is certainly true. When we brought home our first newborn, I wished such a manual did exist, equipped with instructional videos and all! There were so many things that I did not know to do, much less how to do them. Thankfully my wife was a natural. But there were days where even she could have benefited from such a guide.

As my kids have grown older, I have learned more about children. But I still think a manual would be helpful. To an extent, it is true that such a manual doesn’t exist. They don’t send you home from the hospital with a manual for the next 18 years. Nor will the local school give you a gender specific, step-by-step guide that is tailored to your child’s personality and can be used in every season of their life. But there is a “manual” for parents that far surpasses all of these.

As Christians, we believe that the Bible is sufficient for all things pertaining to salvation and godly living. In other words, it not only tells us how to find life but also, having found life, how we ought to live. We call this the sufficiency of Scripture, and it extends to every area of our life, including parenting. The Bible is our manual for life, and as such, our manual for raising children.

Now, let me be clear. The Bible is not a how-to book on parenting, but it is an excellent resource for parenting. It answers all of life’s deepest questions about life, death, good, evil, right, and wrong. It shows parents where they themselves can find life in Christ and equips them to share that life with their children.

Therefore, we should expect to find in the Scriptures a cohesive view of what it means to have children and what our goal should be in raising them. To explore such a view, I want to take a biblical-theological approach to the topic of children by beginning in Genesis and tracing the theme of children all the way to Revelation. I plan to write on six sections that summarize the primary chapters in the story of redemption: Creation, Fall, Israel, Gospels, Church, and New Creation.

I hope that this study will enable the reader to see that children are an integral component to the kingdom of God, and that without them, the storyline of Scripture as we know it cannot be shared or celebrated.

The Necessary Ingredients for Effective Gospel Ministry (Colossians 4:7-18)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Colossians, Devotionals, Imago Dei ClassLeave a comment

Last words are meant to be lasting words, yet so often I am guilty of skimming over them in the Bible. I find this temptation in the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Colossians as well. He lists several names and gives salutatory commands that may seem to amount to “Tell Barnabas I said hey.” Yet when we slow down and consider all that he’s saying in this passage, there’s a beautiful lesson to be learned. That lesson is the example of effective gospel ministry.

Paul’s ministry of the gospel was effective. It bore much fruit. You and I are more than likely believers today because of Paul’s ministry. Yet we know from the book of Acts and his epistles that he never ministered alone. There were several men and women that God called to minister alongside Paul, whether it was through joining him on mission trips, helping him escape assassination attempts, or working alongside him to plant and encourage churches.

In other words, Paul’s ministry wasn’t effective just because he was a great communicator or a strong leader. It was effective because of the things and people that made up his ministry of the gospel. We see these people and these things in full color in Colossians 4:7-18. I call them the necessary ingredients to effective gospel ministry. Here’s seven of them.

1. Gospel ministry requires the family of God laboring together (4:7-8).

    Paul begins this section, “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servantin the Lord” (v. 7).[1] Notice that he refers to Tychicus by name and calls him first a beloved brother and then a fellow servant. The church of Jesus Christ is not primarily a team or a staff, but a family, and we labor together to fulfill the family mission of making disciples among the nations. We are not called to minister individually, but together! If the apostle Paul needed partners in the gospel, how much more do we?

    2. Gospel ministry requires intentional encouragement (4:8).

    Paul tells the Colossians his purpose in sending Tychicus to them: “that you may know how we are” and “that he may encourage your hearts” (v. 8). These are two separate purposes, but they are closely related. We recently had a missionary from South Asia come and give our church a report on the work there. By letting us know “how they are,” he greatly encouraged our hearts that God is still at work among the nations.

    However, I do think Paul is sending Tychicus to encourage the Colossians directly. The gift of encouragement is to the church what a rush of oxygen is to a struggling fire. That’s why Paul commands the Thessalonians to “encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thess 5:11). We know this intuitively. If you’ve spent any time trying to improve in some skill or area of life and someone takes note and encourages you in it, it strengthens you to continue what you’re doing. So it is with gospel ministry. We must intentionally encourage one another to keep laboring for Christ’s kingdom.

    3. Gospel ministry requires intercessory prayer (4:12-13).

    Paul names another man in v. 12, Epaphras, and describes him as “always struggling on your behalf in his prayers.” He goes on to say that Epaphras “has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis” (v. 13). Epaphras could have visited and worked in these churches, but within the context of v. 12, Paul likely has the work of prayer in view. Epaphras is a prayer warrior for these three churches. His work is regularly taking them and their needs before the throne of heaven.

    Effective gospel ministry in a church requires intentional prayer of every member. As Spurgeon once said, a prayerless church member is like a decaying tooth in the mouth that does not contribute to the work of the church. Each member should pray for the ministry and health of the church. It is necessary work, and it is good work, but it is work. In other words, it doesn’t just happen naturally. We must make time for it, and commit to it. Let us be members who, like Epaphras, work hard by praying for our churches and their ministry of the gospel.

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    Anointed for Death: John 12:1-8

    On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MessagesLeave a comment

    As I write, we are in the middle of holy week. In the biblical timeline, Jesus has entered Jerusalem to the triumphal cries of “Hosanna.” But this exhilarating moment was short-lived. The shouts begin to fade as Jesus moves closer and closer to the hour. This transition can be seen in what takes place in the house of Lazarus shortly after Jesus enters the city. There, a familiar story occurs that reminds us of the basis of our faith and what it looks like to live it. We read in John 12:1-8,

    “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:1-8 ESV)

    This passage teaches us that Jesus is more valuable than anything in life because of who he is and what he accomplished in his death. Let’s take a look at it a little more closely.

    1. The worth of Jesus.

      While Lazarus, Jesus, and his disciples are reclining at the dinner table, Mary brings an expensive ointment and pours it on Jesus’ feet. John notes that this ointment is made of pure nard, and that once it was poured it on Jesus’ feet, Mary began to wipe it with her hair. Why did Mary do this? Because she recognized the supreme worth of Jesus.

      First, she used an ointment that was worth three hundred denarii, about a year’s worth of wages. Second, she attended to his feet, which was servant’s work. And third, she wipes Jesus feet with her hair, a symbol of a woman’s honor. Mary’s action is one of humility, love, and intense personal devotion.

      When Matthew records the same story, he mentions not only Judas, but the rest of the disciples thought that this was a “waste” (Matt 26:8). But Jesus didn’t. He responds by saying, “she has done a beautiful thing for me (Matt 26:10). He knew what it was- a declaration that Mary knew Jesus’ worth and was ready to give up anything to follow him.

      Mary embodies Jim Elliot’s famous quote, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.” She is the epitome of the man who sold all that he had to purchase a field that contained a great treasure (Matt 13:44). She is another example of the merchant who sold everything he had to purchase the pearl of great price (Matt 13:45-46). She recognized how valuable the kingdom of heaven was. But more than that, she recognized the supreme worth and beauty of the KING of the kingdom of heaven.

      Can I ask you- What does your devotion to Jesus look like? Does it cost you anything? Time? Friends? Hobbies? Saying what you want to say when and to whom you want to say it? Living how you want to live? A secret sin? I fear that many of us and our families are willing to follow Jesus so long as it doesn’t really cost us anything- our autonomy, our dreams for us or for our kids, our Sundays, our finances, our time, etc. What we need, then, is to recognize the areas we tend to hold back, and ask God to help us surrender them to Christ by the power of the Spirit.

      Continue reading “Anointed for Death: John 12:1-8” →

      How to Share Christ Effectively (Colossians 4:2-6)

      On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Colossians, Imago Dei ClassLeave a comment

      As Paul moves towards the conclusion of his letter, he asks the Colossians to partner with him in his life’s calling: proclaiming the mystery of Christ. He invites them to play their role in God’s mission by praying for and supporting him in his mission field (now prison), but also by engaging in their own mission field. He writes in Colossians 4:2-6,

      “2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it.

      5Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (NASB)

      There are two primary commands in this section. The first is to pray for opportunities to witness and the second is to take advantage of those opportunities. I use “witness” here as the term to define any opportunity we have to share Christ with those who do not know him. Let’s consider each of these commands in turn and consider how they apply to our lives.

      We Must Pray for Witnessing Opportunities

      It is important to note that Paul begins this section by encouraging prayer. And not just any kind of prayer. Paul encourages the Colossians to missions minded kingdom expanding prayer.  He doesn’t give them a list of his physical needs, but asks them to pray that he (and they) will be effective in reaching the lost. Effective evangelism always begins with prayer.

      Paul asks the Colossians to pray for God to open up a door for the word. In Acts 14:27 and 1 Corinthians 16:9, God is the one who opens the door for the gospel. He does this through providing opportunities to share Christ and opening the hearts of those who hear. Paul, now in prison, asks for the Colossians to pray that God will continue opening doors for him to preach Christ.

      Continue reading “How to Share Christ Effectively (Colossians 4:2-6)” →

      How is Good Friday “Good?”

      On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

      Our church recently released an album entitled He Won’t Fail that features live recordings of our worship arts team performing some of our favorite worship songs of the past year. Each staff member wrote a devotional for each song. Below is my devotional for Sunday is Coming by Phil Whickam.

      And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28 NASB

      When we think of something that’s good, we don’t typically think of someone suffering or dying. Much less an innocent person unjustly suffering and dying. But that’s exactly what we do when we call the Friday before Easter “Good Friday.” What could possibly be good about that day?

      If we look at the circumstances of that Friday, they certainly do not appear to be good. The Son of God, the Eternal Word, the Creator Incarnate who healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached good news to the poor, hung on a Roman cross awaiting His death. He was scorned by His own people and abandoned by most of His disciples. Not good by any stretch of the imagination.

      But there’s more to the circumstances than what meets the eye. This was no ordinary Roman crucifixion. Jesus of Nazareth was unjustly condemned, but he was there willingly. “He let those soldiers take Him in, as His friend betrayed Him with a kiss. There before the mocking crowd, like a lamb to the slaughter didn’t make a sound. Then He carried that cross to Calvary.” Why? So he could “shed His blood to set us free!”

      The cross shows us that even in the most unjust evil, God is at work bringing about the greatest good. All of mankind was separated from God because of our sin, and our only hope of salvation was for the Perfect Lamb of God to come, live, and die for us. We could only be reconciled to God if Jesus absorbed the wrath of God and paid the wages of our sin, which is death. And He did exactly that. He breathed His last breath on the cross and bowed His head, “the Son of God and man was dead.”

      “But that wasn’t the end.” What wasn’t the end? Friday! A Sunday was coming- a day that was a part of the plan all along. When that Sunday came, the women went to the tomb and found a rolled away stone. They were greeted with a question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” He’s alive!

      There’s the good! In fact, it’s the greatest good in all of human history. The Son of God died for our sins and rose from the dead to defeat sin and death forever! But here’s the lesson for us: without the death, there could be no resurrection. Without Friday, there could be no Sunday. Friday’s good cause Sunday’s coming.

      For all those who have trusted Christ, Jesus’ death and resurrection is a picture of how God works in our lives. God promises to work everything out for our good and His glory, including our pain and suffering. Even in all our Fridays, there is a Sunday coming. Jesus will return and we will obtain our resurrection bodies. On that day, we will see all the good that God has worked through our trials, and all the glory that it has brought Him. But until that day, “we watch and wait, like a bride for a groom, Oh church arise, He’s coming soon.”

      Prayer: Father, thank you for your promise that you will work all things for our good and your glory. We praise you for the perfect example of that promise that we see in your Son on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Help us to look to Him and find strength to trust you in the midst of whatever we are going through, knowing that our Sunday is coming, too. Amen.