January 15, 2015January 19, 2015 Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Don’t Be a Fake Cubs Fan; Love Jesus

In our zeal to see kids come to Christ, we often push their little feet down the center aisle of our church the moment they whisper something about Jesus. And once they answer a few questions correctly or repeat a few special words with their eyes closed, we proclaim them to be genuine Christians. They are the real deal, now! Hurrah!

But are they the real deal? Is salvation truly just about repeating a prayer, walking an aisle, filling out a card, or telling a counselor, “I love Jesus?” The Messiah says, “No.” “Not everyone who says to me, “‘Lord, Lord,”’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Math. 7:21).

If I asked you to stand up this Sunday and to repeat the following words, “I am the world’s greatest Cubs,” and if I had you wave a Cubs banner the following Sunday after the invitation, would people suddenly think you are a Cubs fan? We might have convinced them that there are now two nuts in the church. But, no one would assume that your new favorite hobby is making Lego models of Wrigley Field. Why? You never talk about the Cubs; you never watch their games; and you never associate with their paraphernalia. Saying a few words and waving a banner because I asked you to doesn’t make you a Cubs fan.

And yet, we often act as if these superficial actions when tied to Jesus are the most genuine of experiences. We think that by rushing a child (who loves the world more than God to pray a prayer and to get baptized) we can secure junior’s first heavenly mansion. Nothing is further from the truth. Salvation consists not just of reluctantly muttering, “Lord, Lord” while nobody is supposedly looking up. Those who truly embrace Jesus, demonstrate their faith by doing the will of his father. Even for children, saving faith is inseparable from repentance that spawns a new life.

And while simple, repentance is extremely hard. To change the direction of our life, boys and girls (and all of us) have to die to self. We have to call our kids to count the cost. They have to understand that their hearts are little idol factories dominated by altars to fame, sports, sex, greed, and pride. Little ones have to repent of these idols and fall in love with a Jesus. Our savior calls them (and us) to willing suffer the loss of friends, jobs, scholarships, homes, and every earthly comfort. Yes, It’s an awesome trade. As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” But for all its appeal, our kids will still think the gospel call is foolish apart from Jesus. Only through the power of Christ can any of us come to faith. Praise the Lord! He saves!

But if we rush ahead of God, we will leave behind a generation of confused souls who experienced religion without encountering Christ. If our kids are told that salvation consists of nothing more than saying a few magical words while standing in holy water, they will disconnect faith from repentance. They will become just another one of the millions of Americans who claim Jesus as Lord while being addicted to pornography, enthralled with money, and captivated by sports. They will become one of the many to whom Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”

September 18, 2014September 18, 2014 Peter Witkowski Discipleship, Parenting

Don’t Baby Talk Jesus

Sometimes I am not sure if I’m teaching my 4 month-old how to talk or if he’s teaching me how to make noises. Regardless, I love our time together. And as we communicate through giggles, cackles, and words, I find myself constantly putting ideas into his mouth. When he smiles, I smile back saying, “Does little man think Daddy is silly? Yes he does, doesn’t he?” And I am not alone. I think, pretty much every parent, grandparent, aunt, and uncle verbalizes their thoughts about their baby’s brain activity as if the adults’ notion was the kid’s reality. Such conversations are naturally titled “baby talk.” And while baby talk is appreciated by families everywhere, our spiritual conversations with our kids need to be baby talk free.

The Danger of Good Desires

My wife and I very much want to see our son embrace Jesus as his savior. We continually pray for his soul and introduce him to Bible stories, and our church. But when he becomes old enough to talk and think about abstract things, we will have to fight the temptation to use baby talk to coax him into a profession of faith.

Here is what I mean. We could talk to our little guy about the horrors of hell and then ask him, “Don’t you want to follow Jesus and have a happy life?;” or we could say, “Mommy ,Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma will be in heaven, don’t you want to go to heaven too?;” or we could have him repeat the sinners’ prayer after us. We could put all kinds of ideas and thoughts into our son’s head and then ask him to act. Now, our little man might respond by getting scared and even saying a few words. But, he will only have acted on our thoughts as they relate to his sinful desires. You don’t have to be super spiritual to realize that saying a quick prayer is a lot less troubling than an eternity in hell.

The Power Of Salvation

But for our son to embrace Christ, he must embrace Christ. It’s redundantly simple, but it is a huge truth. He must realize that he is a sinner; he must want to repent; and he must desire to set his mind on things above. His words only matter if they are expressing his heart and his love for Christ.

Think of the crowd at Pentecost, the Ethiopian Eunuch, or the man born blind in John 9 (Acts 2; 8). Yes, they all needed to hear the gospel explained before they believed. But once they knew the glory of the mystery of Christ, they eagerly repented and embraced Jesus. Without any coaxing or sinners’ prayers, these people boldly asked, “Brothers what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)? No one had to speak for these new believers to make sure they got saved.

A Baby Talk Free World

Today, our kids come to faith in the same way by responding to the Word of God in faith. As parents, we are called to expose our kids to the gospel by teaching the scriptures, by correcting our kids in love, and by repenting of our own sins. Let’s faithfully follow the example of the Christ, the apostles, and the early church and introduce our kids to the gospel! And then, let’s trust God to work.

And in our zeal to see our kids saved, we must leave behind the baby talk. We can’t manipulate our kids into salvation by projecting our ideas onto them. Instead, let’s ask open-ended questions, such as: “Do you love Jesus; does this make sense; do you sin; what do you think about heaven; and if lying is wrong what should you do?” Then, let’s respond to their answers with truth, asking God to work!

September 4, 2014October 14, 2014 Peter Witkowski Parenting

Teach Jesus. Use Football?

College football is amazing. The sport has fanatical bands, big hits, and unfettered enthusiasm. Quite simply the sport is the perfect blend of World Cup craziness and rugged manliness. As we watch the college season unfold, we will being watched by our kids. Good or bad, our interactions with our favorite teams have a spiritual element. Let’s seize the day and use football as a tool to teach our kids about Jesus.

Don’t Be A Loser

When our team wins only two games (like my Air force Falcons did in 2013,) is our Fall ruined? Or if our team captures the National Championship like Florida State did, is our year made? If the status of our team is our spiritual identity, the answer will be a yes. Now I do not think expressing happiness or sadness about the outcome of your team’s last game is wrong. I was pretty excited to watch Texas win the national title in 2008! But living by the outcome of your team’s score is a problem. As Pastor Tim Keller rightfully warns,

sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things (168).

How do we know if the sport has become an ultimate thing in our life? College football is the ultimate thing if it determines our emotions and actions. For example if we are short with our kids all week or extremely generous with our money because of how our quarterback played, we are teaching our kids that joy is found in a leather ball. Our football identity is melting off our t-shirts and into our hearts. This is a huge problem. As Pastor Tim Keller explains, “Identity apart from God is inherently unstable. Without God, our sense of worth may seem solid on the surface, but it never is – it can destroy you in a moment” (170-71). Every team (even SEC teams) will lose eventually. And scandals hit even little schools like the Air Force Academy at some point. If we live for college football, we will be fragile, miserable people with really strong and yet very indefensible prejudices. And we will encourage our kids to create equally fragile lives founded upon stadiums, swag, and whatever other trinkets that promise happiness but deliver despair. If this is you, repent and make Jesus your identity!

Everybody has to live for something. Whatever that something is becomes “Lord of your life,” whether you think of it that way or not. Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally (p179).

Make Jesus Your Soul’s Captain

But if we flip the field, college football will be a great teaching tool. In a very real way, we can use football to show the sufficiency and power of Christ. When our team gets blown out (…Air Force…), we can still have a great Saturday because Jesus is king. And when our team collects the umpteenth championship, we can be humble and happy, because we base our identity on Christ’s free gift of salvation. As we flip between games on Saturday afternoon, let’s show our kids that every Saturday is a good day because we get to worship on Sunday. By teaching our kids that games are just that – games, we can point them to things above where Christ is!

Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. Jer 9:24b

Get Back Up

If you are like me, you probably have had at least one sin fueled identity crisis during the college football season. A little ways back, I dug my way under a friend’s skin by chanting, “Cry, Tebow Cry” after the former quarterback got slammed hard to the turf. A few seconds later, I heard my Gator buddy say, “You need to leave my apartment, NOW!” Ultimately our issue was not a battle between the SEC and the Big 12. Our issue was a sin issue. I had missed the whole “love your neighbor as yourself and let you speech always be with grace (Matt. 22:36-40; Col 4:6)” We need to be gracious and loving even during sports. Eventually, I had to repent of being rude and unkind with my words. When we sin during college football, let’s be quick to repent and return to our Jesus identity.

Its Ok Leave The Team

Lastly, we can’t forget that sin is always displeasing to God. Boasting about Notre Dame until it’s our identity is never excusable in God’s eyes. And if we can’t watch football without sinning against God and hurting our friends, let’s embrace the Frozen mantra and “Let it go!” It’s better to cut out an eye and miss a little football than for us and our kids to suffer from the deadly effects of sin (Matt 5:29).

Closing Thoughts

I truly think college football is fantastically entertaining! And I have me some swag: t-shirts, mini football helmets, and banners. But it is just a sport, nothing more. Jesus is so much better. Will we embrace the Jesus identity this football season? Our kids are watching. More importantly God is watching!