Jonathan Evans

STAYING ABOVE REPROACH: In the pulpit

Dear Preacher,

When we get comments and likes, mentions and retweets, emails and phone calls, do we feel great about ourselves and our preaching? That’s not a bad thing. But what if all those rave reviews, generous compliments, and kind emails were stripped away, what then? Would we feel like we had failed and our preaching was powerless?

How do we maintain a right heart going into the pulpit and coming out of the pulpit?

 

Remember you’re called, not hired.

God has called you and He has a purpose for you and for your preaching. The question is not, “Did I earn my pay today?”, but “Did God accomplish His will today?” To accomplish His will is why He called you in the first place!

 

Did you preach His Word?

Was there a fire in your bones? Did the text burn in your heart? Were you more excited about the truth than the medium? Were you more focused on God’s presence than your presentation?

 

Did you preach your heart out?

Did you worship Jesus with your preaching? With all your heart, mind, and strength did you proclaim and praise Him? Did you exult in Jesus through the exposition of His Word?

 

Did you take into account past constructive criticism?

Are you taking the advice of those who have approached you out of love? Are you applying it? Are you learning in humility?

 

Was love in your heart for the church?

Did you look in their eyes? Were you concerned for their spiritual growth and maturity? Was your primary desire to equip them? Did they leave convinced that you love them?

 

Was compassion in your heart for the lost?

Were you aware of their attendance? Were you concerned for their eternal destiny and present condition? Did they leave convinced that you care for them?

 

Did you pray for your congregation after you were done or did you wallow in your feelings?

Long after you’re done, are you still fighting for your people in prayer and for the Word of God to take root in them? Regardless of your feelings and your weaknesses, do you trust the grace of God?

 

Do you believe that the work of God goes deeper than the admiration of man?

Do you believe that when preached, God’s word will never return to Him empty, but will always accomplish His purpose (Isaiah 55:1), regardless of its initial reception?

 

Did you worry over your sermon or did you wait for it?

Did you just pick a text or did a text “pick” you?

 

Did you do all you could do?

Did you pray as much as you could? Did you study as much as you could? Did you think it through as much as you could?

 

What have you done to maintain a right heart going into the pulpit and coming out of the pulpit?

12 Things For Worship Leaders To Remember

Dear Worship Leader, 

 

You're called, not hired.

 

Whether it's you or a team leading one or a thousand, worship OUT OF your living relationship with the Living God, not OFF OF the energy in the room.

 

Don't sing songs ABOUT who Jesus is and what He's done. Sing OUT OF who Jesus is and what He's done. Know Him!

 

Worship begins and ends with Jesus. So should the songs that you sing. EXPLICITLY worship Jesus. Never assume it.

 

May the greatest burden of our heart be for the people to see Jesus, because when we're done, that's ALL that matters.

 

When you realize and recognize that you are not the "mediator" of God's presence, JESUS will come.

 

Praise is a PRIVILEGE not given to everyone, but only to the forgiven. LEAD in the enjoyment of that privilege!

 

Sing for Him who has become YOUR salvation! Make it personal, not professional; intimate, not formal; joyful, not dutiful.

 

God's power is effortless, man's striving is exhausting. REST in His power, not in your talent.

 

Our worship should be sincere, full of conviction, unmistakable and unmatched by ANY event centered around any artist.

 

DON’T be afraid of your excitement for Jesus being mistaken for a performance for men.

 

A concert should never be more thrilling than what we do. JESUS must never be out-praised by any artist, crowd or venue.

DEAR MEN, BE LIKE JESUS

As Father’s Day approaches, it is a good time to reflect upon our roles (or future roles) as both husband and father. Since life is not as compartmentalized as we’d like, it is worth noting that the roles of husband and father are in fact intertwined. I have never done a good job at being a husband and simultaneously done a bad job at being a father. And the opposite is true as well. Being a better husband makes me a better father and being a better father makes me a better husband. While we may be good at some things but not others (i.e. good at playing music, but not fixing cars, etc.), we are saved and called to be godly men - men like Jesus. And to that end, our roles as husband and father are prepared by God’s grace, lived through God’s power, and enjoyed for God’s glory.

 

Here, then, are some ways that you, dear husband and father, can reflect Jesus to your family:

1. Pray for your wife and children

2. Pray with your wife and children

3. Read the Word of God with your wife and children

4. Teach the Word of God to your wife and children

5. Talk with your wife and children

6. Listen to your wife and children

7. Serve your wife and children

8. Protect your wife and children

9. Provide for your wife and children

10. Lead your wife and children

11. Instruct your wife and children in godly living

12. Be an example of godly living to your wife and children

13. Expose your wife and children to the gospel again and again

14. Have fun with your wife and children

15. Weep with your wife and children

16. Rest with your wife and children

17. Be generous toward your wife and children

18. Study your wife and children and know them

19. Be affectionate toward your wife and children

20. Be willing to die to yourself for your wife and children

21. Be willing to die for your wife and children

 

We must remember that:

1. Jesus did not serve two masters and you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24; James 4:4). We will either serve our family or ourselves, our family or our career, our family or our hobbies, etc. Serving two masters is an impossibility and one of them will destroy the other.

2. Jesus did not seek to gain what the world temporarily valued at the expense of what His Father eternally valued. As surely as we can gain the whole world and lose our soul (Lk. 9:25), we can gain the whole world and lose our marriage and our children. They are more valuable in God's eyes than anything He gives us in this world.   

3. Jesus lived in the power of the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish the purpose of his Father (Luke 3:22; 4:1). What Jesus requires of us, He empowers us to do. There is nothing about our role as husband and father that is impossible for us, because the power of the Holy Spirit is available to us to conform us, lead us and help us.

 

Dear husband and father, rejoice in what God has given you in a wife and children. Rejoice in who He has called you to be as her husband and their father. Rejoice in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And rejoice in Jesus, who has purchased you, redeemed you, clothed you and called you.

STAYING ABOVE REPROACH: Confess, Confess, Confess

Admit that you’re wrong. Confess your sins. Ask for forgiveness. And do it often. Not because there’s a quota of holiness you need to meet on a daily basis, but because there’s a conformity to Christ that is happening in you on a daily basis.

 

You will never outgrow or mature beyond admitting a wrong, confessing a sin, and asking forgiveness. If you feel that you have, chances are you don’t remember the last time you admitted to anything, the last time you made confession of any weakness or to any temptation, or the last time you went to someone just because you wanted to be sure there was no obstacle of any size between you. What’s worse, chances are nobody else remembers the last time you did this either, but they do remember when you should have.

 

Change and conformity to Jesus, staying above reproach, happens one confession at a time (1 John 1:9).

ENTHUSIASTIC WORSHIP FOR ALL!

One Sunday morning, at roughly 10:12 am, during the middle of the second song, a person on the worship team began to sing and “move” with more enthusiasm than usual. This caused quite a commotion amongst the little girls in the front row. But I’m pretty sure that the outward commotion amongst the little girls was probably multiplied amongst the adults, only they kept it on the inside. This is what happens in a church where little enthusiasm is shown during corporate praise and worship. 

 

Corporate praise and worship is private praise and worship gone public, which means our corporate worship is fueled by our private worship. If we’re not worshipping during the week, we’re probably not going to come on Sunday, switch worship mode to “on”, and worship in spirit and in truth. This is because our worship is not event-centered. It is Jesus-centered. Corporate worship is more than an event. It’s the gathering of God’s people around Jesus, who He is and what He’s done. And when we faithfully gather and truly respond to HIM, there is a life, an electricity, a power, a joy, an enthusiasm that should be unmistakable and unrivaled. 

 

Is there any god like our God? Any Savior besides Jesus?! If not, there should be nothing and no one we respond to with more enthusiasm than Jesus Christ.

 

PROPER ENTHUSIASM

Worship is expected. So is enthusiasm. Here is a definition for enthusiasm: “intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval”. Emotion is not weird and enthusiasm is not abnormal. God created us to enjoy and to express enjoyment. So, why should we expect an enthusiastic response during a wedding or a birthday or for a big game or a big surprise, but not expect any response of this sort when we come to praise and worship Jesus?

COMMANDED ENTHUSIASM

Worship is commanded. So is the physical, emotional act of worship. For example, Psalm 47:1 commands us to, “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”, and Psalm 95:1 to, “come, let us sing for joy to the Lord”. In Psalm 134:2 we are told, “Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the Lord.” In Psalm 95:6, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” It’s hard to lift up your hands or to bow down without anyone noticing! God commands His people to praise and worship Him in ways that are physical and with emotion. Yet we must not forget that it is GOD’S glory that causes deep enjoyment, interest, approval, feeling, emotion - ENTHUSIASM - to arise out of the heart of His people. God is not commanding water from a stone when He commands praise from His people. Jesus has already turned our hearts of stone into new, living and feeling hearts. Worship is the natural, free-flowing love of our heart towards Jesus.

 

PERSONAL ENTHUSIASM

Worship is personal. Worship is one’s own personal response of adoration towards God. And because it is personal it will be expressed in a way that is unique to an individual’s personality. It is wrong for me to say that your worship must be expressed LIKE my worship. And it is equally absurd to suggest a certain level of enthusiasm must be reached for true worship. Since God has “fearfully and wonderfully” made each of us (Psalm 139:14), our worship will be expressed in wonderfully unique ways. But here’s the thing: there will be an emotional and enthusiastic expression. We all top-out emotionally in different ways. Some are more exuberant and outgoing than others. But whatever our emotional make-up, our praise and worship of Jesus should be with all the enthusiasm our redeemed heart can give. From the depth, width and height of our inward being, may we long to worship Jesus, who alone is worthy of ALL and EVERY expression of praise and worship.

AN UNSWERVING COMMITMENT FUELED BY AN UNRIVALED DESIRE

A husband and his wife 

It is a husband’s duty to protect his wife, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It should also be his delight. A husband will protect his wife because he cherishes her, because his desire is for her and because his delight is in her. She is his beloved, and he will stop at nothing to protect her, even laying down his life. A husband protects his wife because they possess and share an intimacy, a closeness, a friendship that he values above anything else. It is irreplaceable. As time passes, the value increases, delight is heightened and commitment is deepened. On the other hand, a husband who is not willing to protect his wife emotionally, physically, and spiritually is a husband who does not honor or cherish her. His desire is not for her. It’s not that commitment is too extravagant a price for him to pay, it’s that he has no idea what has been given to him in her. 

 

A Christian and his savior

Jesus is preeminent, holding first place in all things (Colossians 1:18). In Christ we HAVE everything. And when we are satisfied in Him and with nothing else, He becomes our preeminent desire. It’s not because we lack Christ that we hunger and thirst for Him, but rather it’s because we know Him that we hunger and thirst for more of Him. It is out of this satisfaction/desire that a passionate, loving commitment to Him arises which is unswerving and unmistakable. Since there is nothing in this world more precious than Jesus Christ, there is nothing in this world not worth giving up or laying down to follow Him. As the church, we should long to set apart all that we are, have, and do for Jesus. Holiness is where delight and duty collide. There is nothing boring about being holy! It is for this reason that we were saved, are being saved, and will be saved (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4). Being holy is being like Jesus and being with Jesus. Being holy is living like Jesus and living for Jesus. There is so much more than the singular or weekly moments we have in the presence of God while at church or in our private devotions. If this is the sum and total of our knowledge of Jesus, of what we have in Jesus and of our understanding of intimacy and friendship with Jesus, then once we leave that moment our commitment to Him will be dubious and tossed back and forth, and we will be double-minded and half-hearted. There must be an unrivaled desire in our heart for Jesus, which will fuel an unswerving commitment to uphold His name and glory with our lives. This unrivaled desire comes from beholding the indescribable riches of God which He’s already given to us by His grace in Jesus Christ. We lack nothing!

 

Christ and His bride

Jesus had an unswerving commitment because He had an unrivaled desire. He loved His heavenly Father. He was committed to His heavenly Father and to the eternal will of God. And the will of God was not random or haphazard, but predetermined and divine. Out of perfect love and in perfect commitment, Jesus came to earth and being born as a baby He lived, died, was buried and rose again. To the glory of God, the eternal plan of salvation was accomplished. Those who hated, despised, and rejected God could be reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ, through Whom God has loved us. Furthermore, God has already committed to finishing the work of salvation that He has begun in us (Psalm 57:2; Phil. 1:6). One day Jesus will present to Himself the church, His bride, holy, unblemished and pure (Ephesians 5:27; Colossians 1:21-23). For this reason, Jesus delights in His church now and will protect and perfect her until He returns. He will never abandon His bride. In His heart, Jesus has an unrivaled desire for the church which fuels His unswerving commitment to her, because above all, He is committed to fulfilling the eternal will of God and to upholding God’s holy name in matchless glory, honor, and praise on earth as in heaven. We exist for the same joyful and glorious purpose.

 

THE CHISEL OF ADVICE

“Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.” Ecclesiastes 4:13

 

Advice is like a chisel that, if you use it, shapes and forms your character. Otherwise, you remain one big hunk of rock without any semblance of shape or form.

By listening to, using and applying other people’s advice, we are shaped and formed. Since God has created us to to be in community with other people and not live isolated from them, our growth and maturity of character depends largely upon others. This is especially so in the church. The church is called the body, and each member of the body is first and foremost dependent upon its head, Jesus Christ, and secondly upon one another. In Him we are all held together and properly work together (Ephesians 4:15-16). Therefore, without one member of the body, the whole body will struggle to work. So in a common sense sort of way, how do we depend upon each other for the formation of our character?

 

Who are you friends with?

It’s good to be influential in the lives of others. We should be. If we’re not influencing other people for their good, then we’re not worthy to be called their friends. Friendship is about investing in and sacrificing for someone. However, with the absence of this type of commitment and love, it is difficult to teach someone and to learn from someone. How about you? Are you wiser than your friends? Are you growing in your knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ? Are you improving your marriage and family? Are you becoming a better steward of your God-given and entrusted resources? Are you staying organized and/or becoming better at it? Is your grasp of the Bible widening? Is your prayer life deepening? When your friends need advice will they come to you? “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city” (Ecclesiastes 7:19). It’s okay to be fun, popular and charismatic, but it’s better to be that friend who can also answer serious questions, speak the truth in love and show some depth of experience. Whose life are you helping shape with your advice? Godly wisdom gives you strength of influence.

 

Who are your friends?

Wise men walk with wiser men. If you and I are continually making mistakes, choosing wrongly and simply lack common sense, chances are we’re not very good at seeking out advice, listening to it and applying it. More often than not this is a matter of pride, not ignorance. We all have those whom God has placed in our lives to help teach and shape us with their sound advice and godly wisdom. We just choose to do our own thing and follow our own advice. But “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:5). Fools will sing your praise to the grave, but only friends will warn you all the way to it. Dear friend, if you want to be a man or woman of character, God has ordained and placed people in your life for that very purpose. Be thankful, go to them and chisel away! The shape you will take will be more valuable than money, more desirable than fame and more necessary than possessions. 

 

What if a concert were more like a worship service?

“The dead do not praise the LORD.” Psalm 115:17

What if a concert were more like a worship service? Well, by many standards no one would come, even if it were free. The energy and emotion usually associated with concerts is often a distinguishing mark between a group of people who gather around an artist and a group of people who gather around Jesus. I know that sounds harsh, but I’m a culprit too.  The Psalmist declares, “The dead do not praise the Lord.”  We should expect silence from a body in the ground, not from a person in the church. Simply, as long as we are alive on earth our occupation and preoccupation is to praise the Lord. Praise is to our life what light is to a star. Without praise, we cease to shine. Yet Christians are often afraid of showing emotion when coming together to praise and worship Jesus. This is curious since we don’t hesitate to show emotion in other areas of our lives or at many events that we attend. Again, I’m guilty. So if emotion is a sign that we are physically alive, then how much bigger a role should emotion play in the lives of us who have been raised from spiritual death to eternal life in Jesus Christ?

 

I have a vision. What if the praise and worship of the church of Jesus Christ were characterized and marked by intense earnestness, an earnestness more fervent than anything the world has ever seen or heard? Why? Because Jesus Christ has inspired eternal praise. He is worthy to be praised forever in heaven and on earth. Who He is and what He has done is greater than who any artist is or what any artist has done. Therefore, our praise and worship should be nothing less than a gloriously inspired concert of praise and worship in response to who Jesus is and what He has done. It should be sincere, full of conviction, unmistakable and, frankly, unmatched by any event centered around the name and fame of any artist. It should be audibly and visually stunning, simply because nothing can compare to the sound and sight of people worshipping Jesus together.

 

I have a vision. What if our praise and worship set the standard for a crowd of any size gathering together to sing? What if concerts with all their energy and emotion paled in comparison to the church’s energy and emotion? What would it look like if a people no longer condemned and under God’s just wrath, but forgiven, set free from the power of sin, filled with the life and power of the Holy Spirit and unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, came together with full conviction of heart and unity of mind for the singular purpose of bringing glory to God? What would it look like? What would it sound like? Not like dead people! What if a concert were more like that worship service?

 

I have a vision. What if we stopped being afraid of our excitement for Jesus being mistaken for a performance for men? In our earnestness we may dance, but we may not. We may shout, but we may not. We may clap, but we may not. We need not be afraid of particular expressions of praise and worship. Neither should we measure the loudness of someone’s singing or the coordination of someone’s dancing as being somehow that which determines its acceptability as worship. Worship is an unhindered and earnest personal expression of the heart in response to the eternal worth of Jesus. How that earnestness will look or sound to others should not be the determining factor. In the end, it’s not about the worshipper at all; it’s about Jesus. We are the worshippers, He is the One of worth! We’re not gathering around a worship leader or a favorite song, but around Jesus Christ because it is all about Him. There shouldn’t be anything more glorious to the redeemed sinner than Jesus Christ, and there shouldn’t be anything he or she does with more earnestness, conviction and sincerity than praise and worship Jesus Christ.

 

I have a vision. Attending a concert should never be more thrilling than worshipping at church. So whether it’s a pastor leading his congregation in singing the Psalms without instruments, or a worship leader and team leading from a stage with state of the art technology, JESUS must never be out-praised by any artist, crowd or venue. He must be worshipped now as He will be in eternity. We “will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 115:18)

REGARDING PREACHING...Cooperation is key to preparation

God leads each of His servants in particular ways to do His work according to His will. The servant must, therefore, be willing and come to accept the Master’s instruction, even when accompanied with any particularities or peculiarities suited to the servant and for the task at hand. And so it is that as preachers we must come to discern how it is that the Holy Spirit prepares us to preach and leads us to prepare to preach. This preparation will be unique to each servant. For example, practically for some it may mean preparing a sermon a little each day, while for others it may mean preparing it all in one day. To some the Holy Spirit will speak weeks in advance what to preach, but to others only days or even hours before. Regardless of how it all comes together, cooperation is the key to preparation. 

 

We will learn by experience that if we do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit then we not only frustrate ourselves, but also Him. In our frustration we will often blame ourselves for feeling unprepared and resort to studying longer and harder, striving in our own wisdom and strength after revelation and power. On the other hand, if we learn to cooperate with Him we can come to experience great freedom in knowing how He prepares us and leads us to prepare. There is great peace and rest in completely depending upon the Spirit of God in preaching the Word of God. 

 

THE GOSPEL TAKES US BEYOND

 

“But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you...” 2 Corinthians 10:15-16

The church of Jesus Christ is meant to grow and bear fruit throughout the ages. It is designed to be built up and expanded upon throughout the generations. Until Jesus returns, he desires for us as His church to be a living, breathing and moving witness to His name and glory throughout the earth. As Christians, we should experience a constant increase in our knowledge of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:17). Yet, our personal growth is not confined to a building we call a church. Rather, our growth compels and propels us to live and speak out of our living relationship with Jesus. We are not advocates of something. We are witnesses of someone. If we have experienced Jesus, we will live differently than we would if we simply knew about him. 

As a church grows in and lives out of its knowledge of Jesus Christ, its numbers will increase. By this I mean new people. Every number is a person, and this is important to remember. We care about people. Our city and our neighborhoods are filled with people who are lost and dead in their sins and in need of a Savior. As growth comes, the challenge is to sustain that growth through regularly meeting  for Bible study, prayer, and fellowship and also to reach out to those closest to us through evangelism, prayer and friendship. 

In 2 Corinthians 10:15-16 Paul gives us three key things that we need to help us understand and remember why we should come together as often as possible:

FAITH

Paul desires that the faith and understanding of the Corinthians increase. For Paul, his greatest personal desire and pursuit was to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2; Philippians 3:8). It follows, then, that for those whom Paul ministered to he would desire the same thing. The knowledge of Jesus Christ is not the pastor’s pursuit alone, but the entire church’s pursuit. Paul expects and encourages believers to grow in their faith, in their knowledge of God’s Word and in their understanding of God’s will. Jesus is at the center and heart of both of these! Therefore, we must continually be growing in our faith, not by leaps and bounds, but step by step. Regularly meeting together enables the church body to grow individually and together throughout the week. Meeting once on Sunday is not enough! We must continually be encouraging one another in the faith (Hebrews 10:25).

INFLUENCE

The result of personal, spiritual growth in a believer’s life is individual, spiritual influence in another’s life. Those who are most like Jesus will draw men to themselves, not because of anything they have done, but because of everything the Holy Spirit is working in them and doing through them. This influence comes through leadership, but also through mentoring and friendship. Consequently, as a church grows in its understanding of God’s Word and will, and walks obediently with Him, not only will transformation come internally, but influence will come externally. Let me clarify that this influence is not for our sake, nor is it intended to make room for us. It is for Jesus’ sake and for the opportunity to reach others with the gospel. A church that is increasing and growing in its faith is a church with influence. And a church with influence is a church with opportunity to preach the gospel. Regularly meeting together enables us to develop bonds and to serve those we meet with, as well as to cultivate an influence through our lives with those who need to be reached with the gospel.

GOSPEL

The gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s what it’s all about! Paul says he wants to “preach the gospel in lands beyond you”. Beyond you. The gospel always takes us beyond ourselves, beyond our walls, beyond our homes, beyond our churches, beyond our comfort zones, beyond our ideas, beyond our preferences, beyond. Jesus went WAY BEYOND to reach us. It is in the heart of God to go beyond and, therefore, it is in our hearts which are filled with the life, power and love of God to go beyond and preach the gospel to those who have not heard. I am absolutely convinced that there are souls whom God has placed within every church's “area of influence” and that through regularly meeting together God will use the Gospel to do what the Gospel has always and only been able to do: bring salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). And once God reaches those who are lost, there will be a place to plug them in and help them to grow in their faith. In turn, they will be of influence for the Kingdom of God in the world and be empowered to preach Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior. 

Jesus said that He would build His church (Matthew 16:18) and that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him (Matthew 28:18). He is our Lord and Savior and He is building us up, leading us on and sending us out in His authority, with His power and for His glory. Let us follow Him!