“So what are you going to do about it?”

That question hits us hard sometimes. It compels us to make a decision. When the facts have been stated, the arguments and counters have been considered, and the evidence has been submitted… a decision must be made. Life brings us to such tipping points and compels an answer of us: “What are you going to do?”

David, while he was still a young man, saw the conflict between his people and the Philistines for what it was. He saw Israel’s weakness, heard Goliath’s taunts, and knew of God’s power. He faced the big question: ‘What are you going to do about it, David?’ And unlike his brothers and their countrymen, he tipped the scales toward action and became his king’s unlikely champion.

So what about you? When you see a need, will you fulfill it? When you learn the truth, will you believe it? When you realize your sin, will you repent of it? When you have an opportunity to serve, will you take it? When you need a hard truth, will you hear it? When you observe a friend’s pain, will you bear it?

I catch myself and many other believers holding back from what we ought to do for fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, or fear of the unknown. James said, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (Ja. 4:17). I couldn’t begin to count the number of times that I have sinned by indecision. I knew to do good but ignored what I knew and found a way to justify doing so. I pray that I’ve grown. And I pray that for all of us: that we’ll have answer rightly when faith compels us with the question: What are you going to do?

- Dan Lankford, minister

It often takes more strength to be properly gentle. We’ve all seen a child struggling to open a bag of chips, knowing that when the bag finally gives way, chips will fly everywhere. But give that same bag of chips to an adult with stronger hands, and a gentle approach can be taken that doesn’t damage or waste anything.

The same is true with relationships. Young husbands and wives are often guilty of naively wanting to attack some tension in their relationship head-on. The intent is good, but when they lack the emotional strength to be properly gentle to their spouse, things tend to blow up. However, given time and experience to increase their maturity, they gain a new kind of strength to handle such things gently and effectively.

The same is true with leadership. Whether it’s at work, in the community, in the military, or in a church of God’s people, leaders who lack strength often over-extend the strength that they do have. They end up approaching delicate situations with harshness, brashness, and an effort to control rather than with gentle convictions and character-filled influence. This sort of behavior wounds followers and cripples the leader’s credibility.

Gentleness was Christ’s way in dealings with those who truly sought to know him and his heart (cf. 2 Cr. 10:1). It is part of the fruit that our lives bear when the Spirit of God abides in us (Gl. 5:23). And it ought to be part of the default settings for how Christians treat each other (Ep. 4:1-3). Both cowardice and harshness can stem from a place of weakness, and both of them can do their own kinds of damage (cf. Mt. 27:24, Ez. 34:4). But it takes some serious strength of character to hold together two of a Christian’s most important personal traits: conviction AND gentleness.

- Dan Lankford, minister

An important phrase is peppered throughout all the narratives in the Exodus arc: “Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.” He spoke to Pharaoh like God told them to. He built the Tabernacle like God told him to. He set the Levites apart for service as God had told them to. We are told over a dozen times in the Torah that Moses simply, trustingly did what God said.

This demonstrates a powerful principle that God’s faithful ones talk about regularly, but which is often overlooked by the broad spectrum of all that calls itself Christian: respecting God’s authority.

Authority means the right to command. A person with authority is the person in charge; the one who can make decisions that affect others; the one whose words have the weight to make others obey. And in all of reality, no one has more authority than YHWH—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, and of our lord and savior Jesus.

Our job, then, is to obey the ways of God, plain and simple. In church life and in our personal lives, we are called to obey God’s spoken word—the Bible. Has he said how he wants his church led? Then we obey that. Has he said that his people should be generous with our money? Then we do it. Has he said to flee from sexual immorality? Then we do it. Has he said to worship him in certain ways and not in others? Then we do as he’s asked.

Our hope is that, as simple as it is, when the Holy Spirit looks at the whole of our lives, he will be able to say something similar of us to what he so often said of Moses: “They did just as the Lord had commanded them.”

- Dan Lankford, minister

The questions have come up in my hearing a few times lately: “How can Christian women and young women dress modestly without being legalistic? And how can Christian men take ownership of their own thoughts about women and what they wear?” I’m thankful that some people are asking this question, because I think it reveals hearts that desires to serve God with purity and holiness.

As Christians, we live our lives under a certain set of guidelines. And sometimes, those guidelines must necessarily be set in ways the Bible doesn’t specifically address. The Bible doesn’t specifically address many of the situations and clothing styles that we might wonder about, so we have to make some good judgments based on what God has taught us. How can we apply his wisdom to those situations in order to serve him best? Remember, we’re not just called to the minimum moral behavior that is acceptable; we want to be fully pleasing to God.

So first, how can women and young women dress modestly without being legalistic?

Let’s understand that the word ‘legalism’ has a specific meaning; it’s not just “serious about following moral rules.” Since that’s the case, let’s note that a certain Christian moral sense must be applied to modesty. Each family, organization, church family, school, etc. must make some judgment calls about that. For instance, when Christian kids to go to camp, someone has to say ‘this way of dressing is acceptable and this one is not.’ That’s not legalism; it’s just an application of good moral sense. It’s an effort to set clear and wise boundaries for young men and women in effort to help them obey God’s will. And the same is true of other settings; some decisions have to be made, even where the Bible hasn’t made rules.

Now, the question still remains: How can women dress modestly? The answer is pretty simple: try to be modest. Don’t try to be ‘just modest enough.’ Try to be modest, entirely. Take ownership of your dress, and think of how you present your body. Does the way that you dress glorify God, or is it about flaunting yourself? Are you pushing the boundaries, or are you choosing the humble and conservative path that draws you close to God’s ways? Are you seeking to please Jesus, or are you seeking ways to ‘get away with’ a little more?

And now to the other question: How can men take ownership of their own thoughts about women and what they wear?

God is clear with his warnings about lust (see especially Jesus’ words in Mt. 5:27-30). Men and boys are commanded not to give ourselves to that. It’s the task of men and boys to follow Job’s example and make a covenant with the eyes so as not to look longingly at women other than our wives (Jb 31:1). To look at a woman with sexual desire is demeaning to her dignity as an image-bearer of God and is an act of unfaithfulness in the heart. Godly men, both young and old, must exercise self-control.

Every Christian has a responsibility to help other Christians. Christian women can help Christian men, and Christian men can take ownership of helping Christian women to live in the dignity and peacefulness that God has given them.

- Dan Lankford, minister

“What do you do for a living?” It’s a standard question when getting to know someone new because our jobs have an important place in our lives. Working a job is not unique to Christians, but believers are called to work in a unique way. God wants us to do everything with excellence.

Paul instructed the Thessalonian Christians “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thess. 4:11-12)  He told them in a later letter: “you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day.” (2 Thess. 3:7-8)

Our work—and the quality of it—matters to God. Whether we are employed to teach children, to prepare and serve food, to provide medical care, to build, to administrate, or to mediate justice… Christians ought to be diligent to do all things well, giving God the glory for our best efforts.

And so while it might just seem like good advice, the reality is that if we live out the good news, we will be reliable employees. We will be there when we are expected. We will not leave jobs unfinished. We will look out for the interests of others in the workplace. We will think about contributions we can make to our organization’s goals. We will be honest with our employers’ accounts (cf. Lk. 16:1-13). We will not be idle. As Christians, we will always strive to do good work.

- Dan Lankford, minister

The hospitality industry. An inhospitable environment. Southern hospitality. “Thank you for your hospitality.” What’s the key to making that core concept work as it should? Plain and simple: it’s about people.

Hospitality is a Christian virtue because fellowship—a word that means sharing, participation, connection—is a Christian virtue. Hospitality’s not about a house; it’s about people. It’s not about prestige or extravagance; it’s about people. It’s not about entertainment; it’s about people. It’s not even about proper etiquette, cleanliness, dishes, serving, or recipes (cf. Martha [Lk. 10:38-42]); it’s about making genuine, sincere connections with people.

I have been around church families where it was said, “We just don’t really do hospitality. It’s not really our thing.” But there are two big problems with that: 1) That’s essentially just shrugging off one of the Spirit’s commands, essentially saying to God, “We’re simply not interested in doing the thing that you’ve asked us to.” And 2) It betrays disinterest in people—those who are God’s and therefore our siblings in faith, as well as those who are lost and who need our evangelistic guidance to be saved. If we are truly God’s children, we cannot be possessed of a casual, dismissive attitude toward those who are made in his image.

So let’s all look for opportunities to show hospitality—to ‘love strangers,’ sharing what we have with them, welcoming them into our homes, our hearts, and our lives. It’s an expected, commanded part of the Christian life.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hb. 13:2)

- Dan Lankford, minister

Recently, the world was given a great spiritual insight from a surprising source: Disney’s Mufasa. Here’s the truth that one of the songs laid out: “If you wanna go fast, go alone. But if you wanna go far, we go together!” Now, that is some surprisingly Biblical wisdom!

Throughout the Torah, God was trying to teach his people to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the immigrant among them. But again and again, those people were neglected by the well-to-do among Israel. Why? Because, in one preacher’s words, “Kindness is inefficient.” It slows us down in life if we care for those who are needy, elderly, impaired, or weak. And yet, God didn’t guide his people to grow fast in the land they were going to possess; he guided them to “live long in the land” (Dt. 5:33, etc.). If he had wanted them to go fast on the road of life, they would have to ignore many fellow travelers. But he wanted them them to go far, so he taught them to go together.

Throughout the New Testament, the same is true: God wanted the Christians to go far in life; to become a kingdom that would never be shaken (cf. Hb. 12:28). And so, rather than filling his letters full to bursting with strategies for fast growth, hostile takeovers, and cultural transformations from the top-down… he talked to them about how crucial it was that they remain united. Their togetherness is one of the key topics in Romans, 1st Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, Philemon, Hebrews, James, and 1st John.

And of course, Jesus himself is the perfect example of this. How much more could he have gotten done in his lifetime if he just 'didn’t have time for' the disciples and their foolishness? What if he had left them and gone to seek out better followers who would learn quicker, be more spiritually-minded, and have more influence? Wouldn't that seem like the more efficient use of his time? Actually, yes. But kindness is inherently inefficient, and Jesus' patience with the disciples is an important part of how he turned twelve ordinary men into the authoritative mouthpieces of his new, heavenly kingdom.

“If you wanna go fast, go alone. But if you wanna go far, we go together!” That sometimes tests our patience. It often requires us to forgive. It occasionally seems like wasted effort. But it’s one of the keys to being God’s people and ‘living long in the kingdom he has given us to possess.’

- Dan Lankford, minister

I once was blessed to hear a podcast conversation between two believers who had grown up attending what we could rightly call typical evangelical churches. Youth groups, concert-style worship music, big organizations, fundraising efforts, sports teams, bookstores and coffee shops in the building… were all part of the norm for their experience with religion and faith. But as adults, they had both left all of that behind and tried to lead a church environment guided by God’s word. What made the difference? Simply: the Bible.

Their experience is pretty typical of what happens for a lot of (though not all) people who grow up in religious families: they are taught religion as a largely feel-good, therapeutic, healthy addition to your life. Few of the tenets of the faith are taught as essentials to life—just “good ideas for a lot of people.” And while the Bible is often referenced, it’s rarely taught. They become what one of the podcast hosts described for himself: post-Bible Christians.

That particular phrase—“post-Bible Christian”—describes a danger that can plague all believers, both from liberal and conservative (and even very-liberal and very-conservative) traditions. Both are tempted to know proof-texts, but not really study and absorb the full context to understand God’s own heart (cf. 1 Sm. 13:14). Both are tempted to treat the Bible as a good motivational book, but not neglect to treat it as the very words of eternal life (cf. Jn. 6:68). Both are tempted to reference the Bible but not know it; to read it but not engage it; to accept it, but find that they do not actually like it.

I hope this reminds us of two things:

1) That if we are people who know the Bible well, we need to be compassionate in our outlook toward those who do not. We shouldn’t look down on them for not knowing (although we might rightly criticize their spiritual leaders for such failures); we should compassionately do our best to lead them deeper into God’s word and toward his heart. We should try to draw them toward a fuller experience with the Bible if at all possible. We should offer to study, to guide, to teach, and sometimes just to read it with them; because so many have so little exposure to the word. (By the way, this is why I started giving page numbers for Bible references when I preach; I want as many people as possible to be able to read along).

2) It should remind us not to get complacent with our own Bible knowledge. Complacency and self-righteousness go hand-in-hand, and they are the companions of spiritual failure (cf. Lk. 18:9-14). Members of the Churches of Christ used to be commonly called “people of the book,” and that was a wonderful reputation... but it’s one that I fear we could lose without deliberate choices. I find that saints in churches like ours—particularly teens and young adults—are often passionate about Jesus and church-related activities, but they don’t know their Bibles nearly as well as a previous generation did (for more specifics on this, see this article from a couple of weeks ago). It’s not just that they don’t know certain distinctive doctrines—it’s that they don’t know the Bible, and they haven’t learned to love it. We may be on track, without some purposeful, prayerful attention from all church leaders (cf. 1 Tm. 4:6-16), to creating our own trend of post-Bible Christianity. That’s a trend that we can counteract, though, and so we must, for the glory of God and the preservation of our souls.

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hb. 4:11-12)

- Dan Lankford, minister

In Christian bookstores, you can often look over the new releases and get a sense of what’s happening in the broader world of all that’s called ‘Christian.' I did that recently at Focus of the Family Bookstore, and here are some of the titles:

• Take Your Life Back; How To Stop Letting the Past and Other People Control You
• I Shouldn’t Feel This Way; Name What’s Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabotage into Brave Action
• I Declare War; 4 Keys To Winning The Battle With Yourself
• The Bondage Breaker; Overcoming Negative Thoughts, Irrational Feelings, Habitual Sins
• Neighbor, Love Yourself; Discover Your Value, Live Your Worth
• Take Back Your Life; A 40-Day Interactive Journey To Thinking Right So You Can Live Right

What’s the common factor here? They’re all promising to help re-gain control of our thoughts; to help us overcome difficult things like guilt, regret, comparison, and tension. They all promise that if we follow the steps, we’ll be free from what’s negative inside us. It says a lot about our cultural moment when this is what Christian writers and publishers know people will buy in order to find help.

What’s the real solution to a mind that is anxious, frustrated, regretful, and restless? What will all the ideas in those books boil down to if they’re correct? Ultimately, they’ll be rehearsing truths from God. Truths such as, ‘Don’t be anxious; trust God’ (cf. Mt. 6:25-34), and ‘Believe it when God says you’re forgiven’ (cf. 1 Jn. 2:12), and “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tm. 1:7).

What can we do to gain and maintain control of our minds? Ultimately, we gain control by surrendering control—by becoming so thoroughly indoctrinated with God’s ways that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Only that will win the battle over self.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Hypocrisy among disciples is one of the greatest detriments to the expansion of Jesus’ reign in the world. It makes the Way look fraudulent when those who claim it aren’t true to it. And just as it fails intellectually, it’s an enormous emotional problem. It’s like a noxious odor to anyone who recognizes it.

I was reminded of this recently when I pulled up behind a minivan in traffic that had a Jesus fish on one side of the rear window… and a decal with a nasty swear word on the other side. On other recent occasions, I’ve talked to some young adults at work whom I know to be active at church… who complain that their favorite local bar has closed down and they’ll have nothing to do on the weekends. On another recent occasion, an acquaintance whom I know to regularly use profanity and follow his lusts freely… told me that he “pastors” a church here in our city.

That sort of thing just stinks to the mind and heart of anyone who genuinely wants Christ to be served. Like the pungent smell of vinegar or ammonia, it shocks the senses of believers, jarring us and making us want to turn away. And it must surely stink similarly as an aroma ascending before God.

And that ought to remind us just how imperative it is that we live lives of holiness and purity. Because if we can sense it in others’ lives, then how much more will they be put off by the same stench of our hypocrisy? We are a living sacrifice to come up as a pleasing aroma before God (cf. Rm. 12:1)—without a hint of off-putting hypocrisy.

- Dan Lankford, minister