Lateral Ministries: Following Jesus Beside You

Following up on my last post about Scriptural worship, I want to say a few more things. Paul says, in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (ESV).  The International Children’s Bible simplifies the reading, “Do the best you can to be the kind of person that God will approve, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who is not ashamed of his work—a worker who uses the true teaching in the right way” (ICB). So, it’s essential to handle the text of the Bible correctly, soundly, or healthily, all of which means, we interpret the text to mean what it actually means. We practice exegesis, which means we draw meaning out from the text, not eisegesis, which many people practice, which means they read their own ideas into the text and so interpret it as saying things it doesn’t actually say. Just a little elementary word dissection will help us grasp what we mean when we say we must ...

Traditional or contemporary? If you know what that question means, you’re aware that the culture wars of our times have pushed their way into the church so that some believers think the future success and survival of the church depends on compromising with the ever-changing (and yet somehow always staying the same) culture of the world.  One of these ways has been the “worship wars” of the last few decades. For what it’s worth, I completely disagree with the compromisers and adapters. It’s a little complex, but the opposite is closer to the truth. The future success and survival of the church doesn’t depend on compromising with worldliness in any way. Scripture calls us to be separate from the world (2 Cor 6:14–18). Church worship is as it should be when it is Scriptural. Church leaders ought not to ask world leaders for advice about anything. We should all look to the Bible, especially the New Testament, to tell us what God is looking for in Christian worship. This doesn’t mean th...

The world is more than what it appears to be. In Isaiah 6:1–8, the prophet Isaiah says, In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned f...

The world is more than what it appears to be. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:23–27 ESV). What would you do if you could see the invisible?  The first thing some think of when they hear the word “invisible” is fantasy, sci-fi, or superhero fiction. “What would you do if you had some kind of superpower?” is a different question. True invisibility isn’t fiction; it’s a present spiritual reality. This is why, despite what many in our times think, Scripture never ever pits faith against knowledge. According to Hebrews 11:1, genuine faith is knowledge!  Scripture pits faith against sight. G...