Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Can We Change The Gospel?

change-the-bibleCan we change the gospel? For years now, many theologians, politicians, and average Americans have been emphatically saying, “Yes.” According to them, we can and must change the gospel so that it can connect with the modern man and woman. Prohibitions against infidelity and homosexuality are deemed outdated and unnecessarily offensive. Instead of hanging onto the two-thousand-year old claims of a dusty book, we need to extend love and acceptance.  As Luke Timothy Johnson, a professor at Emory University, nicely summed this ideology writing, “I think it is important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority…We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience of thousands of others have witnessed to.” As Doctor Rachel Noami Remen said, “The complexity of the real world requires us to struggle to hear the Holy and develop a personal responsibility to live a good life.” We must unhinge ourselves from the slow wagon of gospel truth and embrace the rapid beauty of the human experience. We must allow people to change the gospel to fit their experience. Not too long ago, Katie Perry declared, “I don’t believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting on a throne….I believe in a higher power bigger than me because that keeps me accountable.” Depending on her shared experience, she found the modern, relevant God that she needs. To be loving and relevant Christians must embrace and tolerate such declarations of divine discovery. If we do not, we will find ourselves alone, bitter, and on the wrong side of history.

So can we change the gospel narrative? Can we add and subtract from Jesus message so that it will resemble our human experience? Should we trust ourselves?

Jesus says no. In Mark 8:31, Jesus begins to tell his disciples about his impending death, burial and resurrection. “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and killed and after three days rise again.” And like many of us, the apostle Peter takes great exception to Jesus teaching.

Did We Create The Gospel?

Peter had just confessed the Jesus was “the Christ,” the messiah (8:29). But he did not fully understand how Jesus was going to save humanity. And how could he? The human experience had led him to believe success and salvation equaled human victories, achievements, and crowns. Jesus proclaimtion debunked everything Peter’s thought. Jesus delcared that the very best people in society, “the elders and the chief priests and the scribes,” would perform the most horrible act in history.  According to Jesus, true Life was not found in the celebration of human accomplishment and goodness but in death and submission.

This is not the story that we would naturally want. This is not the story that mankind wants. This is God’s story. Prior to Jesus we could not concieve of a such a savior. We could not imagine such a strange narrative. We should not seek to change the gospel, because we did not create it.

Why Change The Gospel?

And because Jesus’ narrative was so radically different, Peter was disturbed. And so, he did what many of us do when we find Jesus troubling. Peter took Jesus aside and shouted, “Wrong!” Verse 32 says, “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Peter took Jesus aside and said quite forcefully, “No. I do not want this gospel. This is not the gospel I signed up for. I want the Messiah who will vanquish the nasty Romans who have desecrated our temple and who have repeatedly robbed, abused, and denigrated the God’s people. I want the Messiah who will create a new and powerful earthly state. I want the Messiah that will fulfill and accomplish all my goals and place my high in authority. I want the Messiah who will validate my experiences, wants, and desires. I want the Messiah who does things my way.”

Today, you will be hard pressed to find anyone concerned about the Roman Empire imoratlized by its ruins. The modern man, woman, or child is not going to be too tempted to twist Jesus until the Messiah once again fits into the Jewish Revolutionary mold. That’s not our temptation.

We are tempted to daily twist the gospel to make a host of other goals acceptable. We tell Jesus that we will accept his gospel as long as we can have our sexual liberty. We tell Jesus that his gospel must allow us to be greedy and ignore the poor. We tell Jesus that his gospel must vindicate our harsh words directed to our kids, coworkers, and political opponents. We tell Jesus that his gospel must allow us to regularly disrespect our parents and those in authority. This is the human condition. This is our natural default condition. We want a gospel that does not require us to die to sin. We want a gospel that allows us to remain lord of our own lives. We want a gospel that vindicates a favorite sin, wants, and desires. We want a gospel that praises coveteousness and idolatry.

When we encounter Jesus’ gospel, we join the apostle Peter and scream, “No, I rebuke you, Jesus. Give me the gospel I want.”

Does Jesus Approve Of Our Changes?

What does Jesus say? Does he agree with Peter? Does he listen to Peter and hear out his concerns? Does Jesus think the human experience is a worthy standard by which to judge the world? No. Verse 31 reports, “But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Jesus does not allow Peter to change the gospel to fit Peter’s context and his understanding of the human experience. Rather, Jesus says that Peter’s ideas are demonic in nature. Why? Because they originate from earth. Peter’s thoughts are the thoughts of men. And men are not naturally good. Nor are they divine in their outlook. We cannot improve upon God’s plan because we do not think the thoughts of God. We think the thoughts of little insignificant creatures. And when we seek to change the gospel to fit our wants, we are maring perfection.

Many years ago, my brother and I received a couple of packs of airplane stickers while at an air show. We thought them quite becoming and decided they were just what our room needed. We went happily about our room sticking the bright little airplanes on all of our darkly stained wood furniture. A few moments later, we invited our mom to come checkout our decorating masterpiece. Instead of watching joy spread across her face, we saw her face fill with shock and horror. Needless to say, my career as an interior designer both began and ended that day.

Though my brother and I thought we were improving things, we actually made things worse. In effort to brighten things up, we destroyed the very beauty and worth of my mother’s furniture. We could not see her thoughts. We did not understand that furniture is worth more unstickered than stickered. And so we wrecked our bedroom suite.

When we attempt to change and to force the gospel to fit our ideas and goals, we are doing the exact same thing. We take the glorious gospel of God and decorate it we dumb stickers. We take that which is perfect and make it dirty and messy and worthless. Our ideas do not make the gospel heavenly. They make it more dumb, irrational, and foolish. We cannot improve the gospel. The creation cannot improve the creator. Do not argue with God.

When the world cries for us to change, to acquiesce, and to submit to the new cultural norms, we must resists. We must realize that the gospel is not our story. Because we could not conceive of it, we cannot change it. And we must realize that our experiences, our ideas, or wants are not divine or inspired. We do not add to the truth of the gospel. We take away from it.

And now we must all face the most trying question. Will we submit to the gospel? Will we listen to Jesus and obey? Will we daily as believers repent of the gospel inconsistencies in our own life – such as anger, greedy, and sexual immorality? Will we accept Jesus’ salvation? Or will we rebuke Jesus?

Peter Witkowski Parenting

New Year’s Resolutions: From Failure To Compassion

failureI do not want to get all of you new dieters, runners, and organizers depressed. But the odds of your New Year’s Resolution coming true are not in your favor. (Sorry Hunger Game Fans.) Eight percent. That’s right. According to Statistic Brain only 8% of those self-starters will accomplish their 2017 mid-night goals by 2018. In other words if you and nine of your best friends all made resolutions, there is a chance that all ten of you will fail. How’s that for 2017?  Yikes!

Change is hard. And substantial, demonstrative character change is all but impossible when left up to you and me. Sure we might be able to put aside soda for 365 days, but we cannot be nicer, kinder, or wiser on our own. Such goals always end in disappointment. Perhaps this is why 51% of us completely forgo all pretense at change and didn’t even bother to make a New Year’s resolution.

So what do all these dour New Year’s Eve stats have to do with parenting? Everything.

We tend to get angry, disappointed, and loud with our children because they fail to change. Our kids fail to understand that biting the furniture is bad idea; they fail to see that skipping their homework is foolish; and, they fail to grasp arguing over their choirs is pointless. In short, our kids refuse to change. We tell them again and again to do better, to trust more, or to listen close. And yet, they still refuse to comply to our standards, to our hopes, and to our goals. And when we have had enough, we lose it. We shout, pound our fist, and begin the lecture series anew, wondering, “Why won’t those losers change?”

Sadly, we don’t have to look far for the reason. We just have to peer inside our own hearts.

The reason our kids do not change is the same reason we cannot achieve our New Year’s Resolutions. We are all sinners in need of God’s grace. We cannot change ourselves. We cannot make ourselves better people on our own. Likewise, our kids are powerless to change themselves. They are powerless to change their hearts.

When our kids mess up for the umpteenth time, we should not get mad. We should not blow up. Rather, we should extend mercy and grace as we correct them. We need to approach our children with humble hearts that our ready to forgive. As the Scripture says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Eph. 4:32. Nothing your children have done or will do, we compare to what God has done for us.

parentingGod has forgiven us. And now, we can forgive our kids over and over again. We can patiently contend with them, seeking to lead them to Christ. And though the days can appear dark (horrible dark at times) we know that we can survive, because parenting is not up to us. God is working through us. He gives us to the power to hold our tongue, to ask our children’s forgiveness for our sin, and to patiently endure our kids’ new haircut.As Pastor and author Paul David Tripp said,

If your eyes ever see and your ears ever hear the sin, weakness, and failure of your children, it is never a hassle, never an interruption, never an accident; it is always grace. God loves your children and has put them in a family of faith, and he will reveal the need of their hearts to you so that you can be his tool of rescue and transformation. 

If we try to parent in our own strength, our parent success rate will probably resemble that our New Year’s resolutions. But if we rely upon our heavenly Father recognizing that we are sinners in need of mercy parenting smaller sinners in need of mercy, we will succeed. We will succeed in becoming more patient, kind, and wise. The more we look to Christ and meditate and him and his work, the more we will become like Christ! Are you ready to shift your focus from you and your kids to the God of the universe?

 

Peter Witkowski Parenting

John Bunyan’s Message For Today’s Parents

bunyan-blogJohn Bunyan’s arrest, trial, and 12 year imprisonment never had to happen. He could have declined his last invitation to preach. He could have followed his friends’ advice and fled the meeting house before the constable arrived. And, he could have promised to never preach again and been quickly released. He could have walked away from the whole commotion quite easily.

But Bunyan could not deny his God and Savior. He could not abandon God and “blaspheme the gospel.” As he told one of his accusers, “If I were out of prison to-day, I would preach the Gospel again to-morrow, by the help of God.”

Bunyan’s Story

Bunyan’s convictions would cost him dearly. When he was imprisoned in 1660, John Bunyan left behind a pregnant wife and four children, the oldest of whom was blind. When his wife Elizabeth heard of Bunyan’s arrest, she went into premature labor and gave birth to a still-born child. And for the entirety of his twelve-year prison term, Bunyan provided a meager income for his family by making and selling shoelaces.

As a loving husband and father, Bunyan’s heart was tormented by his family’s sufferings. At times, he felt that he “was pulling down his house upon the head of his wife and children.” As Elizabeth, would later tell a judge, John Bunyan truly “desired to live peaceably, to follow his calling that his family might be maintained.”

Although Bunyan longed to care for his family, he knew his ultimate allegiance was to Christ. No matter how much he loved his family, Bunyan could not abandon his Lord and Savior. And he was able to trust Jesus through this time because he knew that God could and would care for his family. Bunyan truly believed Jeremiah 49:11 which says,  “Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive: And let your widows trust in Me.”

Furthermore, Bunyan was convinced that denying Christ to save his family would ultimately lead to his and his family’s destruction. He wrote:

If I…venture all for God, I engaged God to take care of my concernments: but if I forsook Him and His ways…I…should count also that my concernments were not so sure.

Whether in or out of jail, Bunyan knew that God was the one that preserved his family. John abandoned his self-sufficiency and entrusted his life and his family to the God of the universe. And as a result of his faith, Bunyan was able to boast that, “Jesus was never more real and apparent than now; here I have seen and felt him indeed.” His family was preserved by the grace of God. And Bunyan got a new family becoming the spiritual father of thousands through his writings.

Lessons For Today

The world has changed much since Bunyan was imprisoned. We no longer travel by horseback. And we no longer hide our retirement account in a chest above the fireplace. But, we can still learn much from John Bunyan, the parent. And my biggest take away is this: Christ is everything.   

As parents, we long, like Bunyan did, to give our kids the very best things. We take them to church. We sign them up for softball. We select great piano teachers. We do anything and everything to help them excel at life. But at the end of the day, our kids really need only one thing, Jesus. The rest is all fluff.

Bunyan understood this truth. He understood it to the point of separating himself from his kids’ so that they could achieve the thrown of grace. He would rather suffer for his faith and see his family confined to poverty than provide comforts for his children and see them miss heaven. Bunyan lived out Matthew 16:26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Friends, we must take time to listen to Bunyan’s message. We should not sacrifice the church and the gospel for our kids’ worldly advancement. Rather, we should do the opposite.

We must see that sports, musical skill, and even our own careers are secondary to the gospel. If sacrificing these things enables us to reach our kids with the gospel, then we must sacrifice them. We must be willing to sell all that we have and follow Jesus.. No half measures will do. Christ must be primary. We must build our family and our family’s schedule around the gospel. We should listen’s to Bunyan’s message and make Christ everything.

Are you listening?