The devil doesn’t want you to think that way about sin. He doesn’t want you to know about the “deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13). He wants you to hide your sin. He wants you to secretly love your sin. He definitely doesn’t want you to kill it. He wants to convince you that all will be well if you just cut back on sin. He’s going to hide from you that sin is crouching at the door. He’s going to let you get away with sin and stop opposing you while you persist in sin. He wants to lull you to sleep. He loves a good hypocrite.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you… Colossians 3:5
When God calls you to deal with your sin, He has very specific instructions. He doesn’t tell you to maim sin. He doesn’t tell you to wound sin grievously. He doesn’t tell you to lock sin in a box and never look at it again. He tells you to kill it. We’ve got to quit playing games with sin.
The Games We Play
What are the games we play with sin? We hide sin from others in order to appear better than we are. We put sin away for a while and only entertain it in certain seasons. We disguise sin as a virtue. We dress it up in new clothes and call it by a new name so as to persist in it respectably. But these are the games that must stop if anyone is ever to see the Lord (Heb 12:14).
Sin Will Kill You
Sin is dangerous. Sin does not have light consequences. Before we come to Christ, we come to an understanding that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). John writes that the one who makes a practice of sinning has not been born of God (1 John 3:9). 
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Written by David P. Cassidy |
Friday, June 16, 2023
While the Alliance is deeply committed to the original mission of the PCA, its members are equally convinced that a business-as-usual approach will not be an adequate response to the current crisis, and the time has come for us to fashion new structures that more adequately serve the established mission.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” – John 12:32
The Alliance for Mission & Renewal (AMR or the Alliance) is dedicated to:

assisting and encouraging churches, ministries, and leaders in the work of preserving and preaching the ancient, unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ in the current culture;
equipping God’s people for mission in daily life;
and seeking the good health and unity of the Church in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and our towns, communities, and cities.

At the intersection of truth, vision, and ethics, movements can be born that offer the opportunity for sustained and sacrificial commitments that create lasting institutions which embody and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with compelling grace and truth. Given our current cultural moment, it is time for us to consider again how we do this for the sake of the Church and the Gospel.
Broadly considered, Western culture is significantly shifting from a society with many shared core beliefs to a more radicalized one marked by deep fragmentation and tribalization. This emerging cultural reality is characterized by continuous tremors in several areas resulting in one seismic shift. Consider the cultural changes in:

anthropology, including sexuality, gender, personhood, family, and marriage;
epistemology, including the notion of whether transcendent knowledge and truth are possible at all;
geography, in which particular groups and individuals that align with one another move to either urban or rural environments to preserve their values and resist those who do not share them;
community, in which a more diverse people speak into the broader societal story, and we honor their unique contributions and receive their gifts instead of rejecting or demonizing them; and
communication, in which we access and disseminate information at unprecedentedly high speeds, but our trust in the veracity of the information is shallow, and the use of the information to promote harm rather than harmony is widespread. Information — or at times, disinformation — has often been weaponized and used as propaganda to intimidate, silence, and censure others.

This emerging transformation impacts every level of and all sub-communities in our society. Those who serve in medicine, news media, educational institutions, religious bodies, government agencies, and commerce encounter a deep and divisive cynicism that has undermined public trust and continues to erode the foundations of public peace.
The Church will navigate the impacts, but there are obstacles. Some of those obstacles are generated from within the Church. For example, we believe that the Church of Jesus Christ should graciously step into this societal confusion with the hope of the Gospel and serve as an instrument of peace. Yet, with sadness, we note that the current Church is wracked with painful revelations of sexual misconduct and abuse that undermine the credibility of its claims. So internal obstacles (both individual and systemic) slow our progress. While it’s urgently needed, change may take years to embrace.
In recent years, numerous studies have noted the steep decline in public worship attendance, the shrinking number of young people who identify as Church members (even when they continue to describe themselves as Christians), and more and more people who are deconstructing their faith and commitments, some turning from the Christianity altogether.
The PCA Is Not Immune
The PCA exists within the context of this cultural shift and has struggled to navigate these unsettling times of realignment. Consider:

We have frequently found ourselves divided more by the issues in our culture and what is regarded as a faithful and healthy response to these matters than by the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Our communication is sometimes marked by the same intemperance and callousness that we find in any censorious tweet or vlog from a secular standpoint.
We have struggled to agree on adequate and precise language to describe matters regarding human sexuality.
We struggle to understand how best to address and secure the further flourishing of women serving in Christ’s Church.
Promoting justice, healing, and truth is always deeply important, and yet we also have witnessed abuses of power and wrongdoing within churches and among pastors.
We all remain profoundly and prayerfully concerned about the possibility of theological declension as we minister in our culture and its changing nature, and we must continue to emphasize the challenging call to clarity and charity.
We eagerly seek ways to not only preserve the Faith for the rising generations in our churches but also to proclaim the Gospel boldly and lovingly in a society that views Christianity as not merely irrelevant but potentially dangerous and harmful.

In the face of these realities, we still maintain hope. Christ has promised to build his Church and has sent the Holy Spirit to guide, preserve, and empower her for the mission she’s been given. The Gospel remains the power of God that saves, and this efficacy is not diminished by our weaknesses and struggles. Church history is filled with seasons of far greater sorrows and challenges, and at every step, our faithful Savior has led his Church to fruitful and faithful paths. We believe he will continue to do so as we humble ourselves, turn from sin, and seek his face.
Though we don’t have all the answers, the AMR is working on a way ahead for a peaceful and yet disruptive witness in our fragmenting society, ready to partner with and learn from other Christians who are also working on the needed paths for the Church to be faithfully present and effective in its mission. The Alliance believes that a crucial component in this work of renewal is a recovery of and fresh declaration of the original intent of the founders of the PCA.
The mission of the PCA has been described in these terms:

Faithful to the Scriptures,
True to the Reformed faith, and
Obedient to the Great Commission.

This remains the summary of our shared purpose. How do we fulfill this commitment in the aftermath of a cultural earthquake unsettling all around us and among us?
While the Alliance is deeply committed to the original mission of the PCA, its members are equally convinced that a business-as-usual approach will not be an adequate response to the current crisis, and the time has come for us to fashion new structures that more adequately serve the established mission.
To that end, The Alliance for Mission and Renewal works for the unity, faithfulness, and flourishing of the PCA. We want to see a denomination characterized by:

Firmly standing on the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Scriptures;
Boldly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people in all places;
Faithfully holding in good faith to our confessional standards;
Humbly recognizing how our doxological diversity is critical to our mission and leadership;
Earnestly welcoming, valuing, and co-laboring with our sisters in Christ as they serve the Savior;
Joyfully embracing our universal connection with Jesus’ Church to maintain the unity of the Spirit with all who proclaim the Gospel;
Gratefully deploying the treasures of our Reformed theological tradition in the service of the Church; and
Purposefully focusing on making new disciples so we maintain and proclaim a visible and viable witness to the Gospel.

Each of these characteristics keeps with the original vision of the PCA and is critical to its future fruitfulness. The Alliance rejoices in the treasures of our Reformed tradition, and it seeks to discover a path with more cooperation and a unified and effective Gospel witness in our society. Please pray for us and for God to be glorified through the growing fruitfulness of the Gospel in our work.
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The calling of all Christiann men to lead our homes and churches is God’s good, perfect design; there is nothing about the prescribed leadership of men that even hints at oppression. To the contrary, it is a design rooted in the calling to love sacrificially and in the wisdom to know the three sources from which such self-giving love flows.

When I hear the phrase biblical patriarchy today I can’t help but think of Mark Twain’s comment, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Last night, from the Jesus Without Baggage website, I read an article entitled, “How Christian Patriarchy is a Misguided and Harmful Belief that Does Tremendous Damage.” It claimed:
“Christian Patriarchy oppresses and denigrates women and girls. They are expected to submit meekly to whatever the husband demands. This is wrong, oppressive. The idea is that men are directed by God and have the responsibility to direct their wives. But Women can follow the voice and direction of God just as easily as men can. Christian Patriarchy develops an environment for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse against women and misrepresents biblical passages. (The author then cites 5 biblical texts that teach that men are to lead their homes and churches.) These passages are used as if they are the very word of God—eternal propositional truth. But these opinions were written by people (not God) to address issues in particular congregations and based on the culture that existed at the time. They are not the eternal Word of God.”
These words are but another example of the phenomenon we examined last week, i.e., the way critical theory’s oppressor/oppressed lens has corrupted so many people’s views of God’s perfect gender design. Also consistent with what we said last week, she is a woman, like way too many, who has been harmed by abusive men. I begin this way because this author and many, many egalitarians believe things about God’s design of gender roles that just ain’t so. The opening words of Paul’s letter to Timothy about spiritual leadership in the church and home directly refute the claim that God’s role assignments inherently harm women. To the contrary, the very aim of his leadership charge to Timothy, Paul states, “is LOVE.”
As we continue our May series, Portrait of Effective Spiritual Leadership, today we uncover three aspects of the spiritual leadership charge Paul begins to give Timothy in chapter 1.

Your charge is to teach others to avoid useless theological speculations but instead stay focused on ordering their lives to accomplish God’s mission.
The aim of your charge is love.
The love you need to fulfill your charge springs from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

 Teach Others to Avoid Useless Theological Speculations: Instead Focus on Ordering Their Lives to Accomplish God’s Mission
Just as I urged that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to useless speculation rather than advance the plan of God, which is by faith, so I urge you now… (I Tim 1:3-4).
Paul comes down hard on theological mind games. The false teachers were not only deviating from the true gospel taught by Paul, they were adding things referred to as myths and endless genealogies. The Greeks loved argument for the sake of argument and intellectual centers in Rome were always looking for the latest teaching. These kinds of man-made theological games, says Paul are useless speculation, which is in sharp contrast to teaching that advances the plan of God, which is of faith. Paul uses a fascinating word for advance the plan, also translated stewardship, (OIKONOMOUS), from which we get economy. It is usually used for household management, a cognate from OIKOS—house + NEMO—to arrange. Useless speculation is the opposite of teaching that empowers stewardship, i.e. ordering our world to accomplish Christ kingdom agenda in every sphere.
Paul’s use of OIKONOMOUS points to his insistence that God’s true Word be applied in Christian’s everyday lives. Just as James calls believers to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, Paul expects us to manage our outward lives in such a way that we implement biblical teaching, i.e. shape our lives by it. Paul would have agreed with Gordon MacDonald, author of Ordering Your Private World, who astutely observed, “If my private world is in order, it will be because I am convinced that the inner world of the spiritual MUST GOVERN the outer world of activity.” So, our private, inner world requires ordering, so that it can shape the outer world of activity. “Good teaching,” says Paul, “must help Christians implement their faith plan for seeking first the kingdom in all their lives, living as transformed creatures.”
The Aim of Your Charge is Love (1 Timothy 1:5)
Think of how this stated AIM of spiritual leadership refutes the arguments of those who are brainwashed into thinking that biblical male leadership is oppressive. It just ain’t so. Anyone who looks into God’s gender design objectively, who casts off the dirty oppressor/oppressed lens of critical theory, will see that the consistent call throughout the Bible is for men to love those under their care by devoting themselves to whatever it takes for them to thrive, to die to themselves so those under their care flourish. Consider:
Adam is placed in the garden to cultivate it (AVAD) and to protect it (SHAMAR). His wife, Eve, and their children are in the garden. AVAD means to supply whatever his wife and children (and those he serves in business) need to flourish. He sweats. He dies to himself so that they may reach their full potential. Adam not only is to sacrifice his labor to care for them, his commission is to protect them spiritually, emotionally, and physically. If necessary, he dies to protect them. This vocation of Adam is the definition of AGAPE, self-giving LOVE. It is giving of yourself sacrificially to meet the needs of another.
Jesus, the Second Adam, models the manhood that Adam was to fulfill. He came to earth to free us from the tyranny of sin that was destroying us, giving his life in love so that we might be set free from the penalty, power, and presence of the spiritual cancer, sin. He pours out the Holy Spirit who sows in us the seed of godliness, who cultivates new life on the path of righteousness to which Jesus calls us. And Jesus fulfills the role of protecting us (SHAMAR). He defeated Satan at the cross, ascended to the Father and poured out the spiritual gifts and the weapons of warfare. Jesus interceded for us in John 17 to be kept from the evil one an, in fact, he and the Holy Spirit intercede for us every day. Jeus the head of his bride perfectly LOVES her.
Timothy, likewise, is called to be a leader, in his case of the church. Where does Paul start with his charge? The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. The purpose of male leadership of the home and church given in the creation design and for his covenant people is crystal clear; The aim of our charge is love. Our spiritual leadership, like that of  Adam and Jesus was given for the purpose of loving those under our care. And Christian men have been doing so for two thousand years. Nancy Pearcey, in her book, The Toxic War on Masculinity, reveals objective data that prove that the most loving, caring husbands of any subgroup in America today, are devout men who hold the biblical view that they should lead their homes. She writes,
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