Yesterday I wrote a short blog about how many Christians abuse the phrase, “God told me.” That inspired me to think of a few other things that Christians often say either without much thought or simply because it’s something we’ve grown so familiar with, we’ve lost the meaning of it. As I said in my last post, I’m not trying to be nit-picky or single anyone out, but I do believe that the words we say matter. I also believe that sloppy speech leads to sloppy theology - and sloppy theology leads to sloppy living. Many of these are not wrong to say and can even have times that they are appropriate, but I want us to focus less on the statements themselves and more on the theology that's often behind them. Let’s get going.

1. “God is in this place.”
This is most often found in worship songs with lines such as “we invite you in this place.” One of God’s attributes is that He is omnipresent - which means as John Frame says that He is “in every place and time.” Frame also notes “To say that God is “present” is to say that he is here with us, really here, not absent.” We cannot ‘invite’ God anywhere, He is already there and will never require our permission.

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”
Psalm 139:7-10

2. “That was a ‘God-thing!’”
Often after some prayer request is answered the way we desire, or something really important happens, we throw this one out there. Now the heart behind this one is most often right because we are trying to bring glory to God for the event that just took place. But when we only attribute this to the big, exciting events of life, we are acting as though there are things that God is in control of and things that He is not in control of. Or worse, we are saying that God is only responsible for the good things that happen, but is not in control when bad things happen. I’m not saying that this phrase is wrong and that we should never use it, but let’s make sure that we give glory to God in the small and hard things as much as the big amazing things.

3. “Church was amazing today!”
As a pastor, you can imagine that I wish everyone walked away on Sunday mornings saying this, but I also realize the danger in this mindset. Most often, we use this phrase when emotions were high and we left the service feeling happy and encouraged. We almost never use this phrase when we walk away from the gathering feeling convicted or when the pastor just wasn’t as energetic as we would like. The factors that often go into this statement rarely have anything to do with the main goals and purposes of a local church gathering. While there’s nothing wrong with this statement in itself, we should ask ourselves why we said that.

Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself when leaving a church service: Was Jesus Christ glorified during that service? Was the Word of God faithfully preached? Did we truly seek to encourage one another? Were the songs that we sang true about the character of God? Were our hearts seeking to magnify Christ or get a spiritual shot in the arm for the week? Those are not all the questions we should ask, but it’s a starting point. If you can answer yes to all of those, then church was indeed ‘awesome’ that day whether or not the band was ‘on point’ or the pastor was ‘engaging.’

4. “I wish God would show me a sign.”
I want to be sensitive with this one, but honestly, it’s really time for us to stop saying this. More importantly, it’s time for us to stop asking God for signs. He has already given you what you need in His Word to know how you should live. Asking for a sign is a good sign that you’re not doing the hard work of studying the Word, praying, and seeking to walk in the Spirit day by day. I know there are many people out there who are in really hard situations and you really aren’t sure of the way forward. Maybe you have been praying and seeking the Lord and things don’t seem any clearer now than they did at the beginning of all this. It could be that God is trying to teach you what He taught Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 - “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It could be that He has you in a state of uncertainty in order to drive you to depend on Him more than you depend on having clarity and comfort in life.

That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll do another post like this in the future. If you’ve got a suggestion for more phrases Christians need to stop saying, send them my way by commenting on this post.

Something that Christians often say without giving it much thought is, “God told me.” There are variations to this such as: “God impressed on my heart,” "or “God spoke to me,” but the premise is the same. But I think this can be a very dangerous phrase at best and blasphemy at worst. I don’t believe that we intend to do either of those things, nor am I attempting to question the motives of anyone who uses those phrases or similar ones. I simply want us think more deeply about how we use such words. Let’s begin with words from a guy names Agur who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words:

“Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
Proverbs 30:5-6

I believe these words should cause us to tremble whenever we are using the words “God told me.” If those words are not immediately followed by direct quotes from Scripture, you are seriously in danger of “adding to His words.” For example, if you said “God told me to not take His name in vain,” you would be quoting from God’s actual words in Exodus 20. But if you say something like “God told me to move to California,” you would be making a bold statement that god Himself said something to you that no-one else can verify. In other words, you would be claiming to have ‘special revelation’ from God Himself.

Does God still speak?
I’m often met with this question in response to the above explanation. Well-meaning Christians want to know that God still speaks to His children. My answer is often “Yes, He has spoken and continues to speak to us by His Spirit through His Word.” Or I will take them to Hebrews 1:1-2 - “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” In other words, God speaks to us in accordance with His Word that He has already spoken. This should not scare us or make us feel helpless to face life’s decisions because His Word has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He guides us, not by telling us what city to move in, the name of our future spouse, what job interview to attend, etc, but by His Spirit through His Word to live lives that seek His glory above our own.

This provides us with immense freedom because we do not have to “wait on a word from the Lord” since He has already spoken and His Word is sufficient. Does the Holy Spirit still guide us? You bet He does, through the sufficient, inerrant, steadfast Word of God already spoken to us - and as Agur has told us “Every word of God proves true.” I don’t have to say things like “I feel like God is telling me…” I can confidently say, “The Lord has said.”

I know there are some of my charismatic friends who will disagree with some of what I’ve presented here and I am not accusing them of seeking to add to the word of the Lord. I am simply begging us to be very careful to utter “God said” when He has not. One thing I do know, I don’t have to be careful in proclaiming “God said” when I am reading His Word.

The next time you are about to say “God told me” I pray you will evaluate the next words out of your mouth according to the Words already written down for us.

I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but my mind tends to wander into deep thought when I’m walking our dog. Since he only weighs 6 lbs and is really chill, he doesn’t require much effort, so I can allow my mind to drift off 2-3 times a day while walking him. Anyway, on a recent walk, I began thinking about Jesus’ words in John 13:35…

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is a well-known and often preached on passage of Scripture with good reason. Jesus has just defined what that love is supposed to look like in verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” In other words, it is in laying our lives down for our brothers and sisters in Christ that will cause the world to know we are His disciples. We often conclude that what this means is if we would just get along and love each other, the lost would come to know Christ. The problem with that interpretation is that isn’t what Jesus said. He said, “they will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” Nothing is mentioned by Jesus on whether that would always result in salvation or not.

Think with me to the early church in the book of Acts. It wasn’t often a positive interaction for the apostles and early disciples to be recognized as followers of Christ. As a matter of fact, it often got them hatred, imprisonment, and even death.

What am I getting at with all of this? The Bible never says that our love will make the Gospel attractive to unbelievers. But how many times have we been taught that? We often hear things like, “the reason the world wants nothing to do with Christianity is because of all the division and bitterness among Christians.” Hear me clearly, hatred, bitterness, and strife have no place in the body of Christ. It should always be called out and those involved called to repentance. But Jesus nor the Scriptures ever told us that if we were just nicer to each other, more people would be saved.

Instead, we find things like “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18) and “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Does this distinction matter though? I believe it matters a great deal because when we see the world hating us and rejecting the Gospel if we believe that it’s always simply a result of a lack of love on our part, we begin to become more silent about the Gospel in an effort to not offend and make the Gospel more ‘attractive.’ Yes, Jesus’ love and compassion drew many great crowds, but it was his proclamation of the Gospel that also drove most of them away. Our compassion does not save anyone. It is only God’s compassion, love, and grace, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves - that’s what we are called to proclaim.

So the next time you read the words of John 13:35, remember that the world recognizing we are disciples of Christ is a good thing, but it also may lead to hatred and persecution like it often did for the early church. Don’t let men and women’s rejection of the Gospel cause you to water it down in an effort to appear more loving. True Christlike love proclaims the truth. And yes, do so in kindness, gentleness, and love. But also do so with boldness. In that moment when someone recognizes you as a Christian because of your love and asks you for a reason for the hope that’s in you, be ready to give an answer, and then give it. (1 Peter 3:15)

Now that I’m a father of a toddler, I’ve become quite the expert on Disney movies like Frozen. In Frozen II there is a song sung by the snowman, Olaf where he is in the woods alone and afraid. My favorite part of the song is when he hears a noise and exclaims: “Samantha?!” Okay, I understand if you haven’t seen the movie that will probably not make any sense to you whatsoever, but what’s so funny about it is how random it is given the fact that he doesn’t even know anyone named Samantha.

That was my poor attempt to illustrate how many Christians claim to hear God’s voice. Something happens in their lives and they have a strong feeling about what direction they should take and therefore, they assume they have ‘heard from God.’ Others do claim to actually hear God’s voice audibly or at least clearly in their hearts. For those of us who have not experienced that, it can be frustrating when we really need to hear from the Lord, but don’t think He speaks to us like he speaks to other Christians.

So the question becomes: How does God speak to His people? The author of Hebrews begins his letter by answering that question for us.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world”
Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV)

Did you catch the part that I underlined? “He has spoken to us by His Son.” If you’re waiting on God to speak to you, don’t miss the fact that He has spoken to you through His Son Jesus Christ who is “The Word made flesh” (John 1). Can God speak audibly to His people? Yes, God can do whatever He wills to do. However, in His revealed will (the Bible) He has informed us that although He used to speak in various ways, His method of speaking is now the Living Word (His Son: Jesus) Who is revealed to us in His written Word (The Bible).

The old adage still holds water: “If you want to know the will of God, read the Word of God.” You see in those moments of life when we are desperate for God to speak, He has given us an eternally gracious gift of His revealed will written down for us to dig deep into. While the Bible doesn’t tell you what job to take, or how to fix your broken faucet, it does reveal to us God’s will for our lives. The Bible is sufficient for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

If there is a time when you ‘felt’ like God was speaking to you, go to the Word and measure what you felt or heard against that. Certainly, we have the Holy Spirit in us who guides us, but Jesus told us that what the Spirit guides us into is the truth of Who Jesus is and what He has said (John 16:13-15).

The beauty is that this frees us to know exactly what God expects of us. As St. Augustine said “Love God, and do what you want.” If your love for Him is first and foremost and you’re seeking to walk in His ways, then allow Him to change your desires to line up with His and then live your life.

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 (ESV)

I grew up in a church where we took communion every single Sunday. As a matter of fact, Sunday was a very long day at church because we would show up for Sunday school at 9:30, have a worship service at 10:45, and then a communion service would follow. Our church always had homemade bread during communion, which was what I looked forward to because let’s face it: as a kid, when 12:00 rolls around on Sunday, all you’re thinking about is food (which is also true of me now that I’m an adult). So I would try to break off as big a piece of bread as possible when it was passed my way.

I was taught the significance of communion and told that we were to prepare our hearts to take it, but I always thought that meant just simply bowing my head during communion and asking God to forgive me of known and unknown sins. That is certainly a good, right, and biblical thing to do, but I don’t believe that’s the full extent of what it means to “take cup in a worthy manner” (1 Corinthians 11:27). My understanding of the Bible’s teaching on communion has drastically grown over the last year or so and now, I’m beginning to see and believe that preparing your heart to take communion can be a weeklong process. It should begin the week before you show up on Sunday to partake with your fellow believers.

First, it should be a personal reflection and prayer time with the Lord to ask Him to reveal any sin in your life that you are unrepentant about. Maybe there is known sin that you bring before Him, and also ask Him to reveal unknown sins. This gives you time to reflect unlike the 2 minutes you may have during the worship service. Carry this attitude of repentance with you throughout the week as you approach the table, and then that short prayer on Sunday as you hold the elements in your hands will be much more meaningful.

Next, if you live with family members, spend some time preparing them as well. Husbands, lead your family members in a time of prayer for repentance. Teach your kids what communion means and explain to them that it’s only for those who have professed faith in Christ to partake of. Make sure they know just how important this event is so that it’s not just something you do once a month, but it is an expression of the grace that you live in every single day.

Also, pray for God to reveal any broken relationships in your life. Is there anyone you need to extend forgiveness to or ask forgiveness of? Don’t come to the table without resolving these things. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:29 - “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” I’ve often argued that “the body” Paul is referring to in that verse is the body of Christ - His Church. Communion is not an individual act, but a corporate one and we must approach the table in love and unity with one another.

The last point I would like to make in this post is that you should also pray for your pastor(s) the week leading up as well. I said earlier, my understanding of communion has grown and I have now begun to see that Scripture teaches us that the Lord’s Table is a means of grace for the Church, but also is an opportunity for pastors to exercise biblical, loving church discipline when needed. Pastors and elders have a responsibility, I believe to ‘fence’ the Table - meaning that we shepherd our people to take the supper in a worthy manner and we don’t allow those living in known, unrepentant sin to partake - for the sake of their souls. Pray that your pastor(s) have the courage to reach out to church members that they know would not be able to partake in a worthy manner and that they love them enough to counsel them in this regard. And also, be willing yourself to receive such a phone call or conversation from your pastor and humble yourself to submit to their leadership in your life.

In all of this, I am pushing for a more biblical, and I believe, beautiful understanding and practice of the Lord’s Supper. In it, we proclaim the Lord’s death, unite with the body, and experience His grace in a unique way. As I write this article, MissionWay is preparing this week to take communion together, so if you’re a member of MissionWay and plan to partake on Sunday, be sure to prepare your hearts leading up to it. I can’t wait to surround the Table of the Lord with you all and Remember Jesus together!