To be fair, these questions emerge out of our experience of the way things work in the world. We do not get good grades at school or a good pay at work without doing what is required. In those contexts the relationship is clear between what we are given and what we do. We work, and then are given our due.

It can be easy to bring such a mindset into our approach to God. In the early chapters of Matthew we read about Jesus as Israel’s promised King and the message that his kingdom, or reign, is coming. Then we read his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount in which he presses God’s standards of right living beyond rules against murder, adultery, and breaking an oath to the underlying heart issues of hatred, lust, and falsehood in any speech. Our tendency may be to see these as rungs on a ladder that we must climb if we are to be worthy to belong to Jesus.

On the other hand, we have seen in the beatitudes that the ones Jesus calls blessed are those who come to him empty handed: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek. So we might assume that if Jesus calls us blessed for our humble posture of receiving his grace, the instructions on how to live do not have any meaningful bearing on our lives.

As you may have guessed, both approaches are wrong. To approach Jesus’ ethical demands as a ladder to God is to ignore Jesus’ blessings on those who declare spiritual bankruptcy and mourn over their sin. Yet to ignore Jesus’ call to right living altogether denies that he is truly King, with the right to rule over our lives.

So how do we understand Jesus’ free grace and ethical demands? In the Sermon on the Mount this relationship is captured by the word “righteousness.” On the one hand, in Matthew 5:6 Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” That is, he speaks his blessings on those who yearn desperately for a right relationship with God and others. On the other hand, in 5:20, Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The relationship between these texts requires more than one paragraph, but here is a starting point. Those who are in right relationship with God are those who come to him in humility, poverty of spirit, and confession of sin. Theirs, Jesus says, “is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3). In this sense righteousness, or right standing with God, is a gift. From this freely-given relationship between poor mourners and Jesus the King comes a new way of life, a new righteousness that goes beyond law-keeping and external adherence to rules to a heart thoroughly submitted to Jesus as Lord. The very humility and brokenness that bring us into relationship with God propel us deeper into living under his reign as we embrace his authority at the deepest layers of our hearts–all the way down to our lust, hatred, desire for human accolades, and anxiety over daily needs. Both senses of righteousness–right standing and right living–are thoroughly relational, all flowing from our new relationship of belonging to King Jesus.

We have many weeks to work this out as we move through the Sermon on the Mount. As we do, may we continue to humbly confess our sin and allow King Jesus to change us into his own image, that we might, from the heart, live rightly toward God and one another.

Pastor Chris

This injustice against the unborn–in the cause of justice for their mothers–has sparked movements filled with vitriolic rhetoric and even lethal violence. This history leaves us as Christians asking how we ought to engage such an issue. And we have no better guide than Jesus’ beatitudes in Matthew 5, which we are currently studying on Sunday mornings.

Jesus, the King, speaks blessings over those who respond to his rule in a particular way. This is not a buffet line of options but multiple descriptions of the same posture: before this glorious and righteous King they embrace their spiritual poverty, they weep over their sins, they do not assert themselves for their own agenda, they are desperate to see God’s justice become the norm on the earth, they give themselves sacrificially for the good of others, they have a single eye for God’s glory, they seek to bring God’s reconciliation into human relationships, and they embrace whatever opposition, even harm, will come to them in these pursuits.

This composite response to the full and final reign of King Jesus informs how we respond to everything from being cut off on the interstate to the reality of 50 million abortions in less than 40 years. While our culture frames abortion as a political issue, our approach must transcend politics (since “in Christ there is neither Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal”) as our ultimate motivation flows from our allegiance to King Jesus.

Such allegiance demands that we engage in the first place. Our experience of coming to Jesus empty handed and being given the full benefits of life under his rule propels us to show mercy toward others–especially the vulnerable unborn–and count their just treatment as more important than food and water. Yet Jesus’ Lordship demands that we carry these pursuits out in his way, not exerting our agenda by violence or with any hint of bitterness. Indeed, we bring into this cause a heart that beats only for the display of God’s glory and that weeps over our own sin. Thus we identify not only with the unborn person being threatened but with the mother contemplating this significant decision. We embrace the pain of her situation even as we call for the right for her child to live.

This Sunday I will be involved in a pro-life rally that seeks to capture these various dynamics in the face of four decades of legalized abortion. I will be speaking on the issue of respecting unborn life while respecting those who oppose our views on this issue. Another speaker will give her testimony of loving post-abortive women. Still another will talk about the fight being waged at the legislative level to protect unborn life. The rally, hosted by Arizona Right to Life, will be held not long after our service. See this flyer for more information.

Whatever issue or situation we face in our day, may we conduct ourselves a way appropriate to the eternal and gracious reign of our crucified and risen Lord.

Pastor Chris

I wanted to share Aaron’s words in this space for those who did not hear him on Sunday. I love this brother and am both sorrowful to see him go and eager to see what God has next for him.

Pastor Chris

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Of all the announcements I have given, this is the hardest.

Change is a part of life. Ecclesiastes says that there are times and seasons for everything. God has brought me into a season of change. At the end of this month, I will no longer be employed here at WABC.

Looking back I see that God has been woking in this direction for a while, and there are things that he has used to show me that it is now time for a change.

One would be the realization of my need for rest and greater healing in my life. God has shown me that it is wisest to pursue this while not trying to fulfill the role as Associate Pastor here at Whitton.

The second is a growing desire for change for its own sake. Since I have existed, for all but 4 brief years in college, I have attended this church. I became a member here over half my life ago. And even though I am not sure exactly what is next, I feel God telling me to pick up and move, that he has something in store that he will show me. That it is simply time.

It also should be mentioned that, like all leadership teams working closely together, there have been points of tension between myself and Chris and the elders at times. But that is par for the course, and nothing that we haven’t been transparent with each other about or come to resolution on. There are no bad relationships in my leaving.

I am, in fact, very thankful for the elders and for Chris who have been amazing though this process. They have given me space, time, and grace in coming to this difficult decision. Thank you for helping me do this. I feel God’s love and care for me though you.

I am currently job hunting. I will be around for the remainder of this month, but beginning in February I will start making another church my home church. But you will of course see me around from time to time.

As painful as departing is, I am actually very excited to be making this change and see what God has in store.

I love you.

And thank you.

Pastor Aaron

This was a euphoric new reality to embrace, especially since it followed a season of intense and prolonged struggle with particular sins. It was as if I had been enclosed in a dark, damp barn and the doors had flung upon to a wide, sunlit field where I could run and be free.

But there was more to be learned. As I read more of the joy of God’s presence, another truth emerged: the path to deeper experiences of God’s presence is the way of brokenness. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15). “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word’” (Isaiah 66:1–2).

These complementary truths also emerge in Romans 5, where Paul is discussing the benefits of being justified, or declared right with God, because of our trust in Jesus. He seems to climax in verse 2 by saying, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” But the apostle continues with “Not only that,” implying that there is more to the story, namely, suffering. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

How can Paul rejoice in sufferings? Because it sets in motion a refining process that ultimately deepens and enhances the believer’s experience of the glory of God. This is reinforced when Paul ends the section, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). The final delight is in God himself, in his presence, but on this side of Jesus’ return we embrace the suffering and brokenness God uses to bring us more into his presence.

Throughout this month we have many paths of brokenness open to us. In our personal times of prayer and fasting we are walking through the worship-confession-cleansing-mission cycle in the “My Eyes Have Seen the King” booklet. In Sunday School we will be studying “The Gospel-Centered Life,” which includes embracing the depths of our sinfulness before God. In our worship service we will walk through the beatitudes, in which Jesus pronounces blessings on the poor in spirit, the mourners, and the meek. All of these give us opportunity to pursue deeper brokenness, contrition, and humility before God. As we do so, may he draw us more into his joy-filled presence.

Pastor Chris

For this reason we continue our practice of setting January aside as Prayer and Fasting Month. The purpose of fasting is to create particular space for encountering God. The biblical precedent for fasting is abstinence from food, so it could be that you use one or more lunch breaks or dinner hours each week to seek God rather than eating. Or God may lead you to abstain one day a week or altogether from television, movies, social media, leisure reading, casual time with friends, or whatever typically takes time out of your day.

Whatever the particulars of your fasting, the aim is to make January a month about seeking God himself and being open to what he wants to do in and through each of us this year. The template we are using for this is Isaiah’s encounter in Isaiah 6, in which there is a flow in the prophet’s experience from worship (“I saw the Lord”) to confession (“woe is me; I am lost!”) to cleansing (“your sin is atoned for”) to mission (“Here am I! Send me.”). This movement is not unique to Isaiah’s experience but can be seen throughout the scriptures.

On Sunday you will receive a booklet that uses these categories as a guide for meditating on God’s word and encountering God through prayer. You may find it helpful to spend your entire lunch break in worship or you may need to move quickly to confession or rest in Christ’s death for your sins. The booklet is a guide, not a rigid mandate, so move as God’s Spirit takes you. The hope is that God would draw each of us deeper into an awareness of his glory and holiness, our own unholiness before him, the sacrifice of his Son Jesus to atone for our guilt, and the resulting call to share this gospel experience with others.

In the booklet there is blank space for you to write out prayers, record God’s work, draw, or whatever best captures your experience. In particular, we should anticipate the people God may call us to serve this year as we say to God, “Here am I! Send me.” He may highlight others in the church who need support and encouragement, unbelieving family, neighbors, and coworkers, or a particular cause for which he wants us to invest ourselves. We should anticipate that God will deploy us to share his gospel love as we make ourselves available to him.

May God meet us in extraordinary ways and set the tone for a year in which his glory is displayed, worshiped, and spread!

Pastor Chris

Perhaps the most compromised Christian virtue during this season is rest. We do not always think of rest in the same category as love, joy, and peace, but at one level rest is at the root of all these experiences. Following Israel’s exodus, rest was God’s command in the form of the Sabbath, a day in which they were to remember God’s rest from creation and the rest God gave them in rescuing them from Egypt and giving them a home in the Promised Land. This weekly pause from subduing the earth was to be the source of love, joy, and peace.

Likewise, in Christ we have an entirely new level of rest to be enjoyed. Much more than rescuing us from Egyptian slavery, God has rescued us from slavery to Satan and sin. Much more than giving us a land in the Middle East, God has promised us a recreated, New Heaven and New Earth. Much more than one day per week, God has promised us an eternity to rest in his work for us. God has accomplished all of this through his Son, Jesus, whose birth we celebrate during this absurdly restless season.

In talking about this rest, the author of Hebrews gives us a paradoxical command: “strive to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This is a profound word, reinforcing that the most difficult thing we as humans can do is to stop trying and start trusting. Rest requires work. We only taste the fruit of Christ’s labor when we stop laboring to produce fruit on our own.

Applied to this season, the word for us is to enter into the rest that this baby born in Bethlehem came to bring us. As counter-intuitive as it is to pause and rest during this scurrying season, if we do not create space to rest in Christ’s work for us, we will not celebrate Christ at all. He has been born to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, so in light of his birth, life, death, and resurrection, let us rest in him and receive all the gifts he has purchased for us.

Pastor Chris