“Church, we must be on guard against deception. Now you might think, ‘But Josh, our message is divine revelation, how could deception come into play?’ In many ways. When believers are not bold, they are tempted to reduce the offense of the gospel. We think it wise to only share certain things or certain aspects of the gospel with our friends and family, so as to win them over with deception. It is a temptation to deceive regarding our own activity, presenting ourselves in a finer light than is reality; presenting ourselves as more sanctified, or more knowledgeable than we really are. It is a temptation to walk in deception in order to keep the peace, to fit in with the others around us, to reduce offense. But when deceit is considered a pathway to peaceful coexistence, then disaster is around the corner

Church, the Bible classifies deception as a sin, and it is found on nearly every sin-list in the NT. For this reason the Christian preachers shunned it as a legitimate means to gain converts. The motives were not personal enrichment; the message was not tailored for mass appeal…“

“Have you ever played Mario Kart? There have been several iterations, but the original was the first to have the unique feature of being able to race against the track record, the fastest completion of whatever track you are on. An ephemeral version of the track champion (a ‘ghost’ if you will) would be projected directly in front of you so that you could learn every twist and turn of the track. And if you were to follow directly on the heels of the fastest time ever, well then you too would finish the race in record time…It was of great benefit, then, that the new Thessalonian Christians were able, even if only for a few short weeks, to observe the behavior of Paul and his associates…Christ Jesus, of course, is our exemplar. He alone ran a perfect race. I like how the NIV translates Hebrews 12:1-2: ‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.’ But Jesus did not merely leave the church with a WWJD bracelet. He granted the Holy Spirit. I do not have to wonder ‘what would Jesus do?’ because I am given Spirit empowered models in the church to observe.”

“Many who have grown up in the church, like me, have endured prayer meetings where the content of the petitions are expressed only as a “technique for acquiring blessings;” long incantations for the purpose of procuring God’s favor. Or, alternatively, in reaction to such demanding and boisterous prayers of past experience, one can readily fall into the ‘fatalistic’ sort of prayer, where we only ask that ‘God’s will be done’ — which sounds quite pious, but quickly becomes insipid and anemic. I must admit to having lived in both of these ditches described, until I began to learn from the content and framework of the prayers found in Scripture. The prayers of Paul, for instance, are neither fatalistic nor magical, but relational. This means that we pray according to God’s will, in line with his values, and in conformity with his own character and purpose.”

“As John Stott observed, “What stands out of Paul’s vision of the church is its God-centredness.”…Grasping this point will fundamentally change the way we think about church. We will think of the worship service less and less in terms of what it does for us, and more and more as an opportunity for us to glorify, praise, and worship God…We will view gathering together with other believers for worship less and less as an intrusion into our weekend, and more and more as an opportunity to declare our allegiance to the one true God.”