Peter Witkowski Christmas

Christmas and the Blessing of Motherhood

One of the more striking and yet glorious wrinkles of the Christmas story occurs in the Judean countryside far away from the gold doors, the ornate costumes, and the roasting meats of the Jewish temple. In her home under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth bursts forth into praise declaring, “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me (Lk 1:42)?” Then a few moments later, Mary the mother of Jesus a sings out, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant (Lk 1:46-47). In recording the first songs of Christmas, Luke reveals that mothers and motherhood are not secondary to but rather an essential component of the salvation narrative.

Faithfulness at Home

Though Catholics misconstrue the scene at Elizabeth’s house to be confirmation of Mary’s inexplicable sinlessness, the Greek text clearly denotes the opposite. In other words, God does not redeem only those who have attained some holiness on their own prior to salvation. Rather, the father saves and utilizes the humble, the worthless, and the broken. Mary was not inherently worthy of the honor given to her by God. What makes Mary worthy of praise is her faith. After rejoicing in God’s gracious and unmerited selection of Mary, Elizabeth notes,“blessed is she who believed. (Lk 1:45).” Mary not only heard the words of God, she acted on them and went to see Elizabeth. Similarly, when one of Jesus’s followers sought to magnify Mary’s physical connection to the Messiah, Jesus redirected the praise away from the passivity of Mary’s womb to one’s faith, declaring, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:28)!” In other words, Mary is worthy of our praise not because she was sinless but because God chose her in her humility, and she was faithful to God’s word. And because of her faith and the faith of Elizabeth in the home, God was glorified, and Scripture was made.

Though many Christians equate spiritual greatness with what happens outside the home on stages, social media platforms, and podcast channels, God never ties his power and glory to human success. He just as assuredly works through a mom counseling her friend while her two-year-old decorates his face with applesauce as he does through the women’s conference speaker talking to a 10,000-seat auditorium. What matters is not the size and location of one’s ministry but one’s faithfulness in that ministry…one’s consistency in listening to and obeying the word of God. Because Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, initially disbelieved the message of the Lord and became mute while Elizabeth and Mary believed the testimony of the angel, these homemakers knew far more about the plans of God than those worshiping at the temple. In other words, the Christmas story reveals that our God is just as assuredly with the faithful and yet exhausted mother (and by extension the faithful and yet bedbound brother and the faithful and yet unvisited grandmother) as he is with the faithful and well-known conference speaker. God works through the temple and the home.

Final Encouragements

Dear sisters, when you are tempted to embrace the lie that your work in the home is a waste of your energy and gifting because the days are hard, trying, and exhausting, remember the testimony of Elizabeth and Mary. Your faithfulness to care for your children, to love your husband, and to care for your neighbors this Christmas season glorifies the Lord. Your faithfulness is not worthless or ancillary but rather essential to the advancement of the gospel. Press on for the glory of God!

And dear husbands, pastors, and elders, we should never lose sight of what God is accomplishing through the faithful witness of godly women in the home. We should cherish and praise our sisters as they faithfully raise the next generation, encourage the hurting, and tend to the needy. Like Paul in 1 Timothy 2:15, we should recognize that God brings about the salvation of sinners through the creation of and caring for children in the home. And we should not forget that the Holy Spirit is just as present with our moms (and anyone living faithfully at home) as he is with any pastor and speaker faithfully taking to the stage. This is not to say that we should redefine pastoral ministry or the role of the husband in marriage. Rather, we affirm that the Holy Spirit advance this gospel through both men and women. Just like the authors of Scripture, men should realize that that Holy Spirit can and does gift moms insights that can encourage, instruct, and bless the church. In short, we should see our faithful sisters this advent season as Christ sees them.  

The witness of the Christmas story is clear: God is glorified by faithful moms!

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Dante, Culture Wars, & The Church: Understanding Jesus’s View Judgement

The idea of placing one’s political enemies in the deepest and darkest depths of hell is neither a particularly modern nor even a post-post-modern concept. In 1314, the poet and theologian, Dante, spoke of how the inner ring of hell was reserved for Judas and Brutus, the greatest traitors in human history. Those with a Christian worldview can easily understand the placement of Judas. But why Brutus; why place the guy who stabbed Julius Caesar in the back next to guy who betrayed Jesus? Dante made such a placement because in addition to thinking about farting demons he also possessed a fascination with the Roman empire. In the third volume of his trilogy, Dante cast heaven into the shape of the Roman eagle. In other words, Brutus destroyed the very political and cultural system that Dante looked to for safety and security.

Most Christians today no longer seek to objectify and excoriate roman politicians who died a few thousand years ago. But at times, we do publicly express our deep resentment for those who voted ‘the wrong way’ and for those who promote sexual perversion of our culture. It’s not uncommon to find evangelical social media post condemning those dressed up as drag queens as being the worst human beings of all time…hanging out in the lowest levels of hell if you will. But, will they be?  

Who is the Worst Sinner?

To begin with, I want to clearly state that such acts are sinful. The ever-increasing acceptance of homosexuality and materialism within Western culture evidences the withdrawal of God’s blessing and the surety of his judgement (Rom 1:26-27). As the apostle Paul tells the Ephesians, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” The consequence of sin both individually and corporately will be divine judgement. That is not in doubt.

But what is in doubt in the quality of such sins. Though many evangelicals believe that the darkest rings of hell will be reserved for those who openly undermine our vision for society, Jesus reserves God’s most severe judgment for another class of sinners: those who reject the clear proclamation of the gospel.

When Jesus sends out the twelve disciples on their first missionary journey in Matthew 10, he offers this warning to those that reject their message: “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (Mt 10:15).” Then the next chapter over in Matthew 11:23-24, Jesus condemns the town of Capernaum with these words, “But I tell you it will be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Jesus’s first audience understood Sodom’s prevailing sin (though the culture was also associated with many other sins such as covetousness) to be that of homosexuality. As the story of Lot and the angels makes clear, the men of Sodom wanted to sleep with the male messengers and not Lot’s unwed daughters (Gen 13:13; Gen 19:1-24). To be associated with Sodom was to be associated with great sin and the eternal judgement of God.

But according to Jesus, a greater sin than even homosexuality exists: the sin of rejecting the gospel. The old British Pastor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, expanded upon this idea when he wrote,

The height of sin is not to feel any need of the grace of God…final self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction, and self-righteousness is the sin of sins.

Undoubtedly many men and women leading the sexual revolution have heard and rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. But so have countless numbers of nice moral guys who spend their weekend hunting and so have many kind women who walked their kids to the park this Sunday morning instead of church. Despite what we might imagine, the deepest and darkest spots in hell will not be reserved for Brutus nor drag queens but for those who have witnessed the glories of Jesus and politely said, “No thanks, I’m good; I’ll take it from here.”  In other words, God’s fury burns most hotly against those who once heard the gospel and then rejected it for either Sunday brunch or the baseball diamond. Those content to live content to live without grace will surely be consumed by fire.

What Do We Do?

What does such knowledge mean for us and our churches? First, we should evangelize those on the leading edge of the sexual revolution. We should call drag queens and those fighting to expand the rights and privileges of gay marriage to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Stated differently, we should engage the public square with the truth of the gospel, longing to see sinners saved and culture redeemed. We have truth; we have light; and we should share it with our lost and dying world.

But we should also engage those in the parks, in the hunting cabins, and at the sports complexes who used to attend our churches. We should be concerned about those who can interact with Jesus and then live as if He never came than about those who voted the wrong way. Love demands that we call both those who never heard a sermon and those who heard hundreds and yet never followed Jesus to repentance…to worship the one true God.

The Real Problem?

The famous British pastor, John Stott, aptly said several years ago, “If society deteriorates and its standards decline, till it becomes like a dark night or stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happen when… human selfish is unchecked. The question to ask is, ‘Where is the church?” What shocking is not that the world tolerates the rejection of Jesus, but that countless manifestations of the local church that do, allowing members who never worship Jesus to stay on their roles and to shape their ethos…to dilute the light of the gospel. I suspect what the church needs today is less people like Dante who can creatively imagine Brutus in hell and more people like Stott who rightfully wonder where the church has gone. The next time you see a news story the portends the doom of your cultural ideals,

Peter Witkowski Book Reviews

The Story of the Story: A Review of the Boys in The Boat

Poughkeepsie. Most sports fans have never heard of this word that once filled the sports pages of the major newspapers. Those industrious enough to do a quick Google search of the term will discover a short definition of the word, a map, and a Wikipedia page that contains a few paragraphs about a sleepy town at the edge of the Hudson River. The amazing sports history tied to this term has almost completely faded from the American consciousness.

A Quick Overview

In all honesty, I too knew nothing of the word until I discovered the book, The Boys in the Boat, written by Daniel James Brown. In the span of 403 pages, Brown introduces his readers to the Poughkeepsie regatta and to the western college boys who overcame a world of adversity to best the Ivy League rowing crews at Poughkeepsie before securing Olympic gold in Berlin. I commend the author for rediscovering and then retelling this heroic tale of fortitude and perseverance that was accomplished by Joe Rantz, Roger Morris, and seven other determine, college students. As the pages turn, Brown places the reader on the edges of the Lake Washington, the Poughkeepsie and of the Grunau as he recounts the Washington University’s team’s various training exercises and multiple victories. Brown’s vivid details allow the reader to feel the boys’ powerful strokes as their racing shell, the Husky Clipper, glides past its competitors boats one seat at a time. Brown’s fulfills his mission to tell the narrative of the boys in the boat who made the 1936 Olympics. It is a story well worth remembering.

The Story of the Story

Though the book was phenomenal, I found the need for the book to be as thought provoking as the story printed on its pages. 

As Brown notes, rowing has not always been an obscure pastime. The author reminds us that, “In the 1930s and 1920s, collegiate crew was wildly popular, often ranking right up there with baseball and collegiate football in the amount of press it received and the crowds it drew.” In 1939, 125,000 fans came to watch the Poughkeepsie regatta. Radio listenership for the major rowing races came to rival the Kentucky Derby, the Rose Bowl, and the World Series. Kids even swapped trading cards of their favorite crews.

What exactly happened to the sport of collegiate rowing pushes beyond the bounds of this book. But its modern obscurity remains a fact. Where it not so, this book would not be necessary. The author recounts in the prologue how Joe Rantz’s gold medal had gone missing only to be discovered years later in a squirrel’s nest tucked away behind a wall. Picking up on the anecdote, Brown writes, “it occurred to me that Joe’s story like the medal, had been squirreled away out of sight for too long.” I am thankful that Brown was able to retrieve the story of the Husky Clipper.

Fame Does Not Last

But the fact that Joe and his boat could almost disappear from the American, public consciousness reveals that the philosopher Albert Camus was on to something. Our earthly legacy does depend a great deal on those who survive them. If one generation forgets us, our story can be lost from the halls of history forever. If a team of world-renowned fame can almost completely disappear from the modern consciousness, most of us average Joe’s and bland Betty’s face even worse odds. To quote the wise king Solomon who was reflective in his own right, “the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten (Ecc. 9:5).” If you doubt Solomon, I challenge you to recall the name of your grandmother’s grandmother without referencing your genealogy. How did that go? Don’t feel bad, I can’t do it either. We can all be easily forgotten. To quote Solomon again, “a living dog is better than a dead lion (Ecc 9:4).”

To his credit Joe Rantz was happy to be forgotten. The man who was content to let a squirrel steal his gold medal while he hauled logs down a mountain lived for much more than the fame of the moment. He enjoyed life with his bride and his children whom he loved deeply as evidence by their ability to share Joe’s various stories with Brown. To some degree, I think Joe Rantz understood that life was more than sports fame which can be lost far easier than it can be won.

Solomon also understood this principle, declaring most things to be vanity except the fear of the Lord. The story of Joe’s story reminds us all of the importance of heeding Ecclesiastes 9:13 which offers this overview of human life, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Sports Fame is fleeting. The Fear of the Lord lasts forever. Choose wisely.

Final Thoughts

The story of Joe Rantz and the boys in the boat could easily be one of the best sports stories of all time. Brown should be commended for having preserved this captivating tale for yet another generation of readers. But I find the epistemological meaning found within the story of the story to be of even greater value. To stand atop the platform of eternity, men and women must do more than strain for earthly gold. To achieve that which cannot be destroyed by rust or faulty memories, men and women must heed the wisdom of Solomon and pursue righteousness, trusting God to care for the rest.

In other words, don’t waste your life pursuing that which can be stolen by a squirrel.