Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Today is the first of a 3-part message on Treasure Hunters.  The adventure film National Treasure has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it in 2004.  It is loosely based on the myth of a secret code inscribed on the back of the Declaration of Independence by its signers.  The deciphering of this secret code would lead the treasure hunters, led by Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage), to the discovery of a fantastic collection of treasure that had been protected and passed down by the Knights Templar and Freemasons for centuries. 

I am convinced that films like National Treasure and the hugely successful “Indiana Jones” series are so popular because they connect the viewer with the “treasure hunter” inside of all of us.  If, indeed, we are all treasure hunters, the question that must be asked and answered is: “What kind of treasure are we spending our lives to discover?”

Jesus cautioned His disciples, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).  In this brief but penetrating passage, Jesus sets forth four powerful truths that relate to treasure hunting.  Today we will confine our focus to the first truth.

TRUTH #1

The first truth is found in the fact that, yes, everyone is a treasure hunter.  Jesus does not leave room for any other option.  He assumes treasure hunting as a mark of all humanity.  Anything of value is a treasure, and we are all seeking value.  It may be the value of a certain amount of income.  Perhaps it is a style of living that indicates you have “made it.”  Maybe it is a position of power and prestige in your company, community, or church.  In his book, A Quest For More, Paul Tripp writes, “If I watched the video of your last year, what treasure would I conclude you’re after?”     

So, what is the answer to this penetrating question?  What is the confession of your treasure hunting life?  Take some time to prayerfully consider both your personal and professional life and check back in on Wednesday for our second truth…

We have all heard the phrase “Coming to Christ.”  Rightly understood, we realize that it is the enabling grace of God that calls us to come to Christ.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,” Jesus said. “And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).  By nature, we will always choose our own way of salvation and not the way of salvation through Christ.  Our minds are too fickle, our hearts are too hard, and our wills too stubborn.  It is only by a supernatural work of God’s grace that anyone comes to Christ and receives the gift of eternal life.  Salvation is all of grace, from beginning to end.

We have all heard the phrase “Going for Christ.”  Rightly understood, we must realize that this too is the enabling grace of God.  Without the same enabling grace that raised us from death to life, we would always choose to go our own way.  We would go where we want to go, when we want to go, and get there in the way we think best.  Without grace, we would be going for ourselves and for the advancement of “the kingdom of one,” in which we consider ourselves to be the sovereign ruler, lawgiver, judge, and jury.  So whether we are coming or going for the glory of Christ, it is because of God’s grace that is at work within us. Paul confirms this in the following verses:

COMING:   “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). 

GOING: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). 

As Christians, we should be every bit as comforted as we are challenged to grow into the person God is calling us to be, knowing that it is all of grace.  Yes, we strive, but we strive in His strength.  Yes, we work, but we work in His wisdom.  Yes, we participate, but we participate in His power.  In His strength, His wisdom, and His power we are able to engage in the advancement of His kingdom with all the joy and confidence imaginable.  If God began this work in our coming to Christ, and it is all of grace even after we are saved, we can rest assured that God will complete His work in our lives, providing all the grace we need in our “going” for Christ wherever He sends us.  Paul wrote that we can be “sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

It is important to understand that “going” for Christ is not synonymous with foreign missionary work—as important as that work is in advancing the cause of Christ.  Think mission right where you are:  mission in marriage; mission in the marketplace; mission in the mundane;  mission in every ministry you have been called to serve in—right where you are!  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I have been a coach for more than twenty years and currently serve as the middle school baseball coach for Westminster Academy. I understand the importance of practice.  Contrary to the old homily, practice never makes perfect, but it certainly helps make progress!  There is an important principle regarding practice which we attempt to instill in the minds of the players: the way we practice will determine how we perform in the actual game. An individual or team who practices in a lackadaisical manner will not suddenly transform into a focused, powerful champion when the actual game begins.

What is true in the practice of sports is also true in the practice of spirituality—what we might call practicing the presence of God.  The way we practice the presence of God will determine how we perform in the life God has called us to live.   

Paul made this crystal clear when he wrote, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).  Practicing the presence of God begins and ends at the cross.  It is at the cross that we find the meaning of life, the message of life, and the Master of life.  And because practice never makes perfect, we must continuously return to the foot of the cross, where grace renews us for practicing the presence of God.

So, what does it really look like when we are practicing the presence of God?  In the words of Jack Miller, we are to “preach the gospel to ourselves every day.”  This is the most important discipline in practicing the presence of God.  Sinners are the only ones in need of the Gospel.  So preaching the gospel to ourselves every day continually reminds us of two incredibly important truths:

1. We are sinners.  Even the good works that we do are so stained by our sin as to be nothing more than “a polluted garment” in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).

2. Our sins are forgiven.  When you practice the presence of God by preaching the Gospel to yourself daily, you reinforce this glorious truth, that God has removed our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).  This gives you both the permission and the power to go on.  Only sinners who know they have been forgiven can continue practicing the presence of God, even in the presence of our own sin. Practice was never intended to make perfect on this side of the grave, only progress.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!   

Today Americans commemorate all the men and women who paid the ultimate price to protect and defend our freedom while in the service of our great nation.  Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, and was first observed on May 30 of that year, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  Memorial Day is now celebrated on the last Monday in May as an established time for our nation to honor those who gave their all for all of us. 

There was another who gave His all for all of us; His name is Jesus Christ.  He gave more than anyone could ever give when He willingly and without reservation went to the cross on Golgotha’s Hill so that men and women would be set free from sin, Satan, and the judgment to come.  Scripture declares this glorious truth: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8-9).

Whenever Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper, it is Memorial Day, for our Savior commanded us to “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).  Yet every day should be a day of remembering for all those who were bought with the precious blood of Jesus. Every day is a time to remember the work of Christ, which was nothing less than an all-out assault against sin, Satan, and the judgment to come . . . a time to remember the work of Christ for people who were desperately in need of rescue and totally incapable of rescuing ourselves . . . a time to remember that every aspect of our existence is to be shaped by His claim on our lives. 

Remembering what Christ has done for us provides us with the ultimate purpose to go further up and further into the Gospel of grace.  Every thought, every desire, every word, and every deed is to be shaped by the cross.  Vertically our lives should be marked by a sold-out love for God and horizontally they are to be marked by a sold-out love for others.  The grace we have received is designed to make us communicators and conduits of grace in the lives of others.  Along the way, the King who has sought us and bought us gets all the glory.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

Today is the final installation of a three-part message of exhortation to men, built on this quote from Pastor Tullian Tchividjian’s sermon last Sunday: “When we apply the Gospel to our relationships—by loving one another, by serving one another, by laying down our lives for one another—the power of God is unleashed in our relationships.” 

Tullian asked the congregation: “Where was Adam when the serpent tempted Eve?”  The answer to this question is the key to understanding the failure of men in the church to “man-up.”  The Bible says, “Eve gave some [of the forbidden fruit] to her husband who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).  Tullian emphasized that “The Scriptures do not say Eve threw the fruit across the garden to Adam, but instead she gave it to her husband who was with her.”  So, if Adam was with Eve as she was being beguiled by Satan, I can come up with only one answer to the piercing question―“Where was Adam?”  HE WAS STUCK IN HIS SILENCE!

Adam was silent with his wife Eve and he was silent with the serpent.  He refused to encourage his wife and to engage the Serpent.  Far too many men in the church today remain silent when they should speak up: speak up for their faith . . . speak up for their family . . . speak up for their future . . . and ultimately they grow into only a fraction of the man God is calling them to be.  Their silence and inaction forces their wives to step into the vacuum and lead, when the woman was designed by God to follow the loving leadership of a godly husband (see Ephesians 5:22-27).  This may sound jarring in today’s age of “feminism,” but it is a fact that the heart’s cry of every daughter of God is for their man to lead as the spiritual head of the household should. 

Tullian explained that biblical spiritual headship looks like Christ’s love for the church.  He said, “In Ephesians 5:26-27, we read that Christ gave Himself up for the church so she would be sanctified, cleansed, and presentable.”  When a man refuses to “man-up,” everyone is affected.  When a man is stuck in his silence, all those he is commanded to lead shrink spiritually.  You see, in God’s economy, when it comes to biblical manhood and masculinity, silence is not golden, it is sinful!  It is high time for men in the church to stand up, speak out, serve sacrificially, and shine brightly for the glory of the King.  If not you . . . who?  If not now . . . when? 

In closing out this message to men, let me say that men will never become real men simply by being involved in a “men’s movement” . . . and I am a leader in the PCA Men’s Movement!  I love the singing, the speakers, and the slogans.  But Christian music and challenging seminars will never be enough to fix what is wrong inside men.  Even the accountability that is so essential to growing in grace will not, in and of itself, produce a godly spiritual leader.  Sin-filled hearts can only be healed by the sinless Savior: Jesus Christ.  Only when the Living God becomes more important than life itself will men begin living for God.  Only when God is at the center of our story will His story direct our lives. Tullian has explained it with brilliant clarity: “The only way to overcome sin long-term is to develop a distaste for it through a superior satisfaction with the Gospel.”

Men, let this be a word of encouragement to you today.  Jesus loved you to death, even death on a cross.  He is calling you to man-up and speak up for your wives and your children!  Speak the words of life that Scripture contains, and LIVE those words out in front of your family! When you do, Satan is silenced.  I’ll leave you with this video that drives the point home from Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church

 This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.   NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today is the second installation of a three-part message of encouragement to men, built on this quote from Pastor Tullian Tchividjian’s sermon last Sunday: “When we apply the Gospel to our relationships—by loving one another, by serving one another, by laying down our lives for one another—the power of God is unleashed in our relationships.”

Far too many men in the church of Jesus Christ are chasing after “the good life” rather than the godly life, and thus they make the power of the Gospel impotent in their lives.  They seek their identity in the stuff of this world and live lives marked by dissatisfaction, disappointment, and disillusionment. It is time for every man to “man up,” to grow up into Christ, and to take responsibility for himself, his family, his church, his community, and his world.  To do anything less is live less than God’s best. 

When Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), He was making it clear that the physical life will never satisfy our deepest desires.  Our DNA is hard-wired with the driving desire to “feast” on the only thing that can fully satisfy our hunger and thirst: Jesus!  Jesus once pointed to a well of drinking water and said, “Everyone who drinks of this [physical] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14).

If we seek fulfillment from anything smaller than Jesus, our hunger is never satisfied and our thirst is never quenched.  Spiritual beings that we are, we simply cannot be satisfied and sustained on anything less than the spiritual sustenance found only in our Savior.  I speak to men every day who live in homes bigger than they need, who carry far more debt than they can repay, and who eat foods richer than they should.  Why? Because they are determined to live “the good life.”

Men who are intent on climbing the ladder of success, rather than laying down their lives for others as Christ called them to do, are stepping on others in their mad scramble toward the top rung.  And tragically, when they reach their goal, they find the ladder they sacrificed so much to climb is leaning on the wrong wall! 

These men do not realize that they are robbing God! They withhold their time, talents, and treasure from the advancement of the cause of Christ.  Even when they do seek to advance the cause of Christ, they are seeking the cause itself and not the Christ behind the cause. They want to be known as men of God without truly knowing the God who made all men.

Last Sunday morning, Tullian charged every man in the congregation to live a life shaped by the Gospel and the Gospel alone.  To “man up” is to step up into faithful and fruitful service to the King.  It means to love others even when they are unlovable.  It is a challenge to serve others even when it is not convenient.  It is a call to lay our lives down for others, and in doing so, to live for something far bigger than our own goals and desires.  This is the call for every Christian man.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!   

Yesterday I sat under the preaching of my beloved pastor and friend Tullian as I always do each Sunday.  I had the privilege of sitting in the pulpit with him as I assisted him in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Tullian delivered the sermon rooted in Colossians 3:18-19, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”  He focused on the “man” portion of this verse and what he had to say to every man was as powerful as it was penetrating.  From where I was sitting, it was easy to see most men squirming a bit in their seats.  I wonder how many saw me squirming in my seat up in the pulpit.    

I am going to devote all three days this week to the inspiration I received from Tullian’s sermon.  So if you are a man or if you are connected to a man in anyway, please read on today, Wednesday, and Friday.  I will build my blog on the following quote from Tullian, “When we apply the Gospel to our relationships—by loving one another, by serving one another, by laying down our lives for one another—the power of God is unleashed in our relationships.”  If the church of Jesus Christ is going to maximize its impact in this world for the glory of the King, every man must be willing to “man up” by taking responsibility for being the spiritual leaders God designed them to be.  God made the man to be the head…not the tail, and passivity which passes itself off as piety is a plague among men in the church today. 

So what does it mean to lead spiritually?  Tullian said, “If leadership means power, then it is power to serve, not to be served; to care, not to crush.”  Tullian understands leadership from a biblical perspective because the Gospel not only informs his life, it shapes it.  Those who “man up” lead in ways that others want to follow because their leadership style is marked by service and care for others.  When the Gospel informs and shapes our lives, we are compelled to move beyond the borders of meeting our own needs and satisfying our own desires.  We are compelled to lay our lives down for others and begin putting others first.  In doing so, we live lives of personal sacrifice that at the deepest level, begin to model our Master.  Jesus gave up everything, including His relationship with His Father as He hung on the cross.  He held nothing back from us and He is asking us to hold nothing back from Him, not so He can control us, but so we can get out from under the control of everything smaller than God. 

The call to “man up” is a call for every man to live for the Master regardless of the cost or circumstance.  And to live for the Master is to die to the self.  When we deeply understand and daily act upon the truths of the Gospel, God’s power is unleashed in unimaginable ways.  Selfish men become serving men.  Careless men become caring men.  Faithless men become faithful men.  Lusting men become loving men.  Angry men become anointed men.  These are men who were once living for nothing bigger than their own lives but are now living for others and the glory of the King.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!         

Today’s meditation is the fruit of a short devotional delivered a few months ago to our Inreach Team by the Executive Director of our church, Rob Pacienza.  My friend Rob focused on three verses of Scripture which clearly demonstrate the depth of the Apostle Paul’s understanding of the Gospel he preached to so many.  Rob reminded us that this is the way we all need to see ourselves if we are going to live out in our lives what we profess with our lips. 

Paul understood the economy of God.  He knew that the way to get is to give; the way to live is to die; the way to go up is to go down.  Let’s take a look at Paul’s Perfect Plunge.  He wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9).  Paul started with his call.  Called by God while he was on the road to Damascus, in hot pursuit of Christians to persecute, Paul stressed how undeserving he was to be an apostle of Christ.  In acknowledging his absolute unworthiness to be so called, Paul took the first of three steps in his perfect plunge.

Here is the second step in Paul’s perfect plunge. “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).  Paul was not satisfied to describe himself as “the least of the apostles,” so he went on to identify himself as the “least of all the saints,” so as not to confine his unworthiness within his fraternity of apostles. 

Finally, the “least of the apostles” and of “all the saints” took his third and final step on his perfect plunge into understanding his own imperfection: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).  Under the probing and penetrating light of the Gospel, Paul is demonstrating his increasing awareness of his own self-absorbed, sin-filled life.  He knew he was a sinner both by nature and by habit.  Yet as he was growing up into Christ, he was simultaneously growing up into the Gospel.  In essence, Paul was renouncing any and all trust he might have had in his own pedigree or performance and relying solely on the finished work of Christ for his acceptance by God.

By acknowledging himself as the “chief sinner,” saved by the grace of Christ Jesus, Paul knew there was nothing he could do to make God love him more and nothing he could do to make God love him less!  Clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, Paul knew God accepted him for Christ’s sake alone . . . or he was not accepted at all. 

It is only by the grace of God that we can see ourselves as Paul saw himself.  Think about this for a moment.  When Paul looked out at the people he was preaching and ministering to, his understanding of the Gospel compelled him to see himself as the most sinful and depraved person on the face of the earth.  It was only when Paul fully recongnized how very low his sin had brought him that he truly understood how great was the grace that had rescued him!   This understanding compelled him to pour out his life to advance the cause of Christ.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for our race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

Now that title screams oxymoron does it not?  If God is gracious…and He is…shouldn’t His grace seek to remove all of my hardship and replace it with pleasures multiplied?  How in the world could the grace of God be discomforting in a culture that seeks personal comfort as the ultimate end?  Even in the church we are inundated with messages from theologically barren pulpits that preach the life of the Christian is lived in a region bound on the north by material prosperity, the south by relational success, the east by physical health and well-being, and on the west by every comfort and convenience Western society can offer. 

Yet, God’s grace is a discomforting grace and it must be because we have a comfort agenda that consumes our minds and controls our hearts.  We will do anything in our power to trade a life of rigorous activity for relaxing ease regardless of the cost, even when the cost is communion with God.  To be sure, we are rebels by nature on the run from God.  In my pastor Tullian’s newest book, Surprised by Grace, he writes, “When we run from God, his response is more likely to be stormy and upsetting than quiet and subtle.”  This is the grace of discomfort.       

Our desire to live lives within a zone of comfort causes us to seek security and safety at the expense of service and submission to the will of God.  God’s will more often than not, forces us out of our zones of comfort by leading us down the road of discomforting grace.  God knows that we will by nature seek the path of least resistance which is often in the opposite direction from the path God would have us travel.  Therefore he will make us as uncomfortable as we need to be made in order to make us zealous for the only Comfort in both life and death…the Lord Jesus Christ!  God will tolerate no rival. 

Life with Christ is not a comfortable life.  It was Jesus who said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).  We have been promised a life of discomfort not because the One who promised it is unable to keep it from happing.  Omnipotence is sending us His grace of discomfort to drive us to the cross where we find a greater rescue than a rescue rooted in nothing more than a life of predictable pain free pleasure.  The grace of discomfort dislodges from our grasp everything except our desperate need for God.  This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

Now for those of you who know me as the “coach” and might be thinking that I am speaking about the body I have good news for you.  I am not!  I am speaking about your life…your blood-bought, born of grace, blessed of God, life in Christ.  So, what is the shape of your life?

The shape of your life is determined by the size of your love.  Love God…live large.  Love self…live small.  When your heart is focused on anything smaller than God, the shape of your life begins to shrink.  When power shapes your life you shrink.  When materialism shapes your life you shrink.  When personal preference shapes your life you shrink.  When status shapes your life you shrink.  When pleasure shapes your life you shrink.  When success shapes your life you shrink.  What you give your heart over to…what you love, ultimately shapes your life.  When your love for anything in creation replaces your love for the Creator, you grow only into a fraction of the person God is calling you to be. 

The Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).  Small lives are shaped by the love of the world.  Large lives are shaped by the love of the Word.  Small lives are shaped by the imagination of man.  Large lives are shaped by the revelation of God.  What is shaping your life? 

The grand affection of your heart is lived out moment by moment each day by the thousands of small choices you make.  Choose this day who you will serve.  To be sure, the creation can seem more real and more relevant than the Creator.  Satan sends messages through every means imaginable to seduce our hearts, satisfy our flesh, and shrink our lives.  Resist temptation and flee the devil and settle for nothing smaller than the God who sought you, caught you, and bought you with the blood of His precious Son.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!