Pastoring involves long hours. If you are a pastor, you will face criticism, both fair and unfair. You will also experience relational pain (read 2 Timothy). You’ll probably feel overwhelmed at times. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Who can bear the weight of souls without sometimes sinking to the dust?”

Despite this, pastoring is a joy and a privilege. Let me give you three reasons why.

Pastors Get to Spend Time in the Word

Every Monday, I open my Bible and spend the day beginning to work on a sermon. Sometimes I step back and realize what a rare privilege this is. Part of my job is to open God’s word, study it, meditate on it, and consider what it means and how it applies to our congregation. Then I get to shape it into a sermon.

On Sunday, I get to stand before them, open God’s word, and preach it to them. It is a weighty and hard work, but it is a privilege. Being able to spend time in God’s word is a delight and a privilege. It is part of what I get to do regularly.

Pastors Get to See God at Work in the Lives of Their People

Imagine a job where you get a close-up view of God’s work in his beloved people. That is the job of a pastor.

Often, when I meet with our people, I try to bless them, but I end up feeling they blessed me more. It is true that I see people struggling. Sometimes I deal with the disappointment of people who give in to sin or take steps backward. But so often, I get to see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of godly people who take him seriously and are growing.

Sometimes I see it more clearly than they do, and I have the privilege of pointing out evidence of God’s grace in their lives. Again, this is a privilege. I sometimes see people at their worst, but I often see people at their best as the Holy Spirit works in them.

Pastors Get to Know That Their Labor Is Not in Vain

1 Corinthians 15:58 must matter to every Christian. Our labor for the Lord is not in vain. This goes well beyond the ministry of pastors. It applies to everything every believer does.

But while it applies to every believer, it also applies to pastors. I get to know that my work for the Lord, day after day, has eternal consequences.

To be honest, it does not always seem like it. I preach sermons that are soon forgotten. I attend more meetings than I would like, and most of them seem to accomplish very little. But the steady service of faithful pastors adds up to something of eternal value. We get to play a part in God’s eternal plan among a particular group of people.

Every role is hard. Being a baker is hard. Being a teacher is hard. Being a parent is hard. Working in a factory is hard. Pastoring is also hard, but it comes with incredible privileges.

Today, I simply want to bear witness to the incredible privilege of being a pastor, and praise God for allowing some of us to enjoy that weighty and meaningful privilege in our lives.

Big Idea: Respond to the gospel by thinking less about yourself, more about the church, and by serving in God’s strength.

What does it look like when you really understand the gospel? What does it look like to be so transformed by the truths of Romans 1-11 that we surrender our lives and are transformed by his grace? What does it look like in real life?

It looks like a lot of things, but here’s one of the first: it looks like a certain kind of relationship with his church. Particularly, it looks like three things: thinking less about yourself, valuing the church more deeply, and serving in God’s strength.

Let’s take a look at what Paul says. Here’s the first thing he says.

Think Less About Yourself (12:3)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Paul has been unpacking the truths of the gospel for 11 chapters. Now he’s showing us how these truths should change our lives. He’s already told us that the gospel calls us to commit ourselves fully to God and to be transformed in our minds. Now here’s the first way in which he calls us to change our thinking. He calls us to change the way we think about ourselves.

In other words, there’s a wrong way to think about ourselves and a right way to think about ourselves. Thinking is his focus here. Paul uses the word “think” four times in eleven words. What’s the wrong way to think about ourselves? It’s to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.

Here’s the sad reality that all of us face: almost all of us think of ourselves more highly than we ought, and we want others to have similar high opinions of us too. It’s called pride, and it’s a problem. When Paul wrote this letter, he wrote in the context of a Roman culture that valued self-promotion and honor-seeking. Our culture isn’t much different today; our hearts aren’t very different either. We face the same cultural pressures and the same internal temptations to think more highly of ourselves than we should, and to want others to think highly of us too.

When Paul says to not think too highly of yourself, he’s not saying that you should put ourselves down. He’s not calling for us to hate ourselves or to say negative things about ourselves. Actually, that’s false humility, and it can be a form of pride too.

Here’s how we should think of ourselves: with sober judgment, and according to the measure of faith we’ve received.

The first one is easier to understand but hard to do. It’s very difficult for us to make a sober judgment about ourselves. Here’s the only way I know how to do this: stop looking at yourself altogether, and instead look to Jesus and what he says about you. One man (Ray Stedman) said that every day when he woke up, he reminded himself of three things:

• First, that he’s made in the image of God, that he has inherent dignity and the capacity to respond and to relate to God.
• Second, that he’s filled with the Spirit of God, that he has the Spirit of God at work within him even through all the problems and pressures that he faces.
• Third, that he’s part of God’s plan.

Listen to what he said:

I am part of the plan of God. God is working out all things to a great and final purpose in the earth, and I am part of it. What I do today has purpose and significance and meaning. This is not a meaningless day I am going through. Even the smallest incident, the most apparently insignificant word or relationship, is involved in his great plan. Therefore all of it has meaning and purpose.

Taken together, he said that this gave him “confidence without conceit.”

Think soberly of yourself. Remind yourself of how God sees you. And then measure yourself according to the faith that God has apportioned to you. This is harder to understand, but I think it probably means thinking about ourselves in light of how we are using whatever God has given us to serve his church. More of that in a minute.

Here’s what Paul is saying. What difference does the gospel make in our lives? It means that stop wanting to be a big deal. We stop trying to impress others. We stop focusing on ourselves altogether. Instead, we focus on what God says about us and how we can serve others.

By the way, a humble person is a breath of fresh air. C. S. Lewis argued the opposite: “To get even near HUMILITY, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.” Tim Keller preached something similar: “There’s nothing more relaxing than humility.” Humble people see others, do not posture or manipulate, and freely serve and love. It is freeing, and it is beautiful.

Think less about yourself. Trade the illusion that you’re a big deal for the truth that you’re deeply loved by God. and then see yourself as someone he’s entrusted with a calling to serve. In other words, move from pride to humble, glad service.

But then Paul says something else:

Think More About the Church (12:4-5)

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (12:4-5)

Paul has called us to think differently about ourselves. Now he calls us to think differently about the church. Here’s are the three things Paul wants us to understand about the church:

• Unity — There’s one body. God's gracious gift of salvation has saved believers into a family with brothers and sisters, a body with many members. We really are united to each other. If you’re not a member of a church, you’re betraying this unity, because God has called you to be part of a body.
• Diversity — Even though we’re part of a body, we’re all different, just like the parts of your body are different by design. Just as God has built diversity into nature and into our own bodies, God has built differences into the church: different temperaments, different skills, different spiritual gifts.
• Mutuality — The unity and the diversity work together. We need each other. We need the ministry of other believers in the church.

You see how what Paul has said so far goes together. He’s told us to get over ourselves; to stop overestimating ourselves, to stop trying to prove ourselves and impress others. Instead, look at what God says about you and serve. Now he’s giving the other thing we need: see that God has made you to be part of his church. Get over trying to be a big deal and admit that you need others. You need people who are very different than you. You need them and they need you.

How do you respond to the gospel? Stop thinking too highly of yourself and start realizing how much you need the church. God never made you to live the Christian life disconnected from other believers. You need the ministry of the church if you are going to live the Christian life.

In other words, the church is utterly crucial to your life in Christ. Connection with Christ means connection with each other. God doesn’t just save us as a collection of isolated individuals; he has joined us to each other. He’s going to return to this over and over again in the remainder of Romans.

When we’re independent and detached, it shows that we have too high a view of ourselves. When we realize we need others in the church, that shows the right kind of humility that leads to the life God has designed for us.

Think less about yourself, and value the church more deeply. Then Paul gives us one more thing we need to do.

Serve in God’s Strength (12:5-8)

So far Paul has told us to think differently about two items; now he tells us to act differently.

Here’s the command: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” Your job is simple: it’s to use the gifts that Christ has given you for the sake of the whole body. You don’t just come to be served; you come to serve. God has given you an ability, given by his grace, that he intends for you to use for his glory and for the good of the church. He’s equipped us all to serve. He knows exactly what the church needs, and he has gifted the church with what the church needs to grow and flourish.

What are these gifts? Paul lists seven of them in verses 6 to 8:

Prophecy

This is the most controversial one. Some people see the gift of prophecy as speaking in an authoritative way on behalf of God like the Old Testament prophets, in which case this gift is no longer operative. John Piper defines it as “a Spirit-guided expression of something we otherwise would not know or say, which is powerful for that particular moment and brings conviction or exhortation or consolation for the awakening or upbuilding of faith.” Lloyd-Jones points to 1 Corinthians 14:3 to understand what Paul means: “On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” He says it’s delivering a warning, exhortation, instruction, or judgment, sometimes making known the secrets of the heart.

Whatever Paul means, he says that those with this gift must exercise it in proportion to their faith. In other words, don’t claim authority or insight beyond what God has revealed to you. Know your limits, and show proper humility and tentativeness. Don’t claim to speak for God when you don’t have a word from God.

Okay, now the easier ones.

Serving

This means lending a hand with practical things, and meeting practical needs. It’s the same word from which we get deacon. If God has called you to serve — and he’s called all of us to serve, then serve, Paul says.

Teaching

Teaching is the ability to instruct believers from God’s word faithfully, clearly, and helpfully. It transmits doctrine and understanding so people understand God through his word better.

Exhortation

Exhortation calls believers to action or perseverance. It motivates. Teaching engages the mind; exhortation engages the will. It motivates, encourages, and challenges believers to apply what they know. It draws people forward spiritually. It inspires. It calls the church toward faithfulness, resilience, and love, especially when circumstances tempt believers toward compromise or despair.

Contribution or Giving

Some believers have the ability to distribute resources to others with unusual generosity. We’re all called to share and give, but some are particularly equipped with the strong desire and eagerness to contribute sacrificially to others. If God has given you this gift, Paul says, exercise it with generosity.

Leading

The gift of leadership involves the ability to mobilize, motivate, and direct others toward an objective. It can happen at all different levels, from eldership to small groups to individual ministries. Paul says that if you have this gift, exercise it with zeal.

Mercy

Mercy is showing compassion to the weak, needy, and downcast. It involves both emotional responsiveness and sacrificial action directed toward the suffering and vulnerable. Paul says that if you have this gift, use it with cheerfulness, not with resentment.

This isn’t a comprehensive list. The Bible gives a number of lists of gifts, and none of them are meant to be exhaustive. The point is this: God has given you a gift that the church needs. Whatever that gift is, use it because we were meant to serve each other. You don’t even need to figure out what your gift is, just like fingers don’t need training on how to be a finger and noses don’t need training on how to smell. You’ll figure it out. Just get serving, because God has given you a job to do in the body. You are needed.

What does it mean, brothers and sisters, to apply the gospel in real life? It means embracing a particular kind of relationship with the church, not as a consumer, but as a committed member of a family.

It means a renewed view of yourself. You stop imagining you can live independently, or that your life is mainly about making much of yourself. Instead, you see yourself as someone loved by God, saved by grace, and entrusted with a purpose: to serve.

In other words, the gospel moves you from pride to humility, from self-focus to self-giving. And from that new posture, you begin to serve others, gladly and intentionally, with the gifts God has entrusted to you.

Respond to the gospel by thinking less about yourself, more about the church, and by serving in God’s strength.

Believer, the Son died for sinners and rose again. The Father justifies us by grace through faith on the basis of Christ, removing every condemnation and welcoming us as his children. The Holy Spirit applies what Christ has accomplished by uniting us to him, setting us free from sin and death, and assuring us that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

So take your rightful place, not at the center, but in the body, humbly serving in the strength God supplies.

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Am I Good Enough?

The answer begins by looking away from ourselves—to who God is, who he created us to be, and how Christ is at work in us.

You Must Go On. You Can’t Go On. You Will Go On.

Beckett’s admission has cemented itself in our collective consciousness because it folds together (1) the obligation of life (must), (2) the admission of weakness (can’t), and (3) the confidence of hope (will).

What Gratitude Was Never Meant to Do

We run into problems with gratitude, though, when we use it as a countermeasure to avoid the thoughts and emotions that disappointment brings to the surface.

Christian Women and the Poison of Porn

According to Covenant Eyes, an esteemed internet accountability and screen-monitoring service, 40 percent of professing Christian women consume pornography.

In the Age of AI, Teach This Foundational Doctrine to Teenagers

We need to evaluate AI not merely through the lens of innovation or efficiency, but through a gospel-centered theology of humanity, reality, wisdom, discipleship, and the imago Dei.

Should You Turn Down Pastoring for the Sake of a PhD?

When I talk to Bible college and seminary students, I’ve noticed a surprising trend: many show an interest in going into academia rather than into church ministry.

Preach Sermons, Not Commentaries

In the sermontary, the Bible is explained; in the sermon, applied.

Eventually, you are going to hear someone criticize the importance of preaching. They will tell you that the problem with the church is that we have relied on the sermon to do more than it was ever designed to do. They will argue that we need to rely on other forms of discipleship and make preaching less central to the ministry of the church.

There is an element of truth in this criticism. The other day, I posted a quote from Tim Keller:

I stand by that. I also agree with the authors of The Trellis and the Vine when they say, “Sunday sermons are necessary but not sufficient… Sermons are needed, yes, but they are not all that is needed.”

We don’t need less preaching; we need more. At the same time, we need other forms of word ministry in the church.

So there’s an element of truth when people say that we sometimes rely too much on the sermon. But still, don’t ever listen to anyone who questions the centrality of preaching in the local church.

Ignore the critics of preaching. Here’s why.

First, because you have (or should have) a high view of Scripture. Your view of preaching is directly tied to your view of Scripture. A high view of Scripture leads to a high view of preaching. Once you understand the claims Scripture makes about the word of God and its power, you will also have a high view of the importance of preaching the word. Nothing can take its place.

Whenever you begin to waiver about the place of preaching in the church, spend time meditating on passages that speak of the power of God’s word. This will help you recapture your vision for the importance of God speaking and for how central preaching is to the church.

Second, preaching is central to the Bible’s vision of ministry. Read 2 Timothy 4 if you haven’t read it recently. Notice that the charge is framed with maximum weight, is described in its many effects, and encouraged no matter what people think of the idea of preaching. Resist all pressures and trends that diminish the role of preaching. It’s not hard to find passage in Scripture that emphasize the importance of preaching; it’s impossible to find passages that diminish its importance.

Third, preaching is inherently proclamational. The role of preaching within the church is not simply to discuss what God has said. It is for someone to stand and proclaim, “Thus says the Lord,” then point to his word and apply it. I am not opposed to discussion in a church, but I am concerned when people try to replace the proclamation of God’s word with discussion about God’s word.

Finally, critiques of preaching are not new. Read Lloyd-Jones in his excellent book Preaching and Preachers, and you will see the same tired criticisms being thrown at preaching even then. “We are living in an age when not only preaching but the very Church herself is being questioned,” he wrote. The challenges are not new, and neither are the answers. Do not be surprised when the same old criticisms come up again and again.

I’m not writing to convince the critics of preaching that they’re wrong. I am writing to those who may hear or read those criticisms and wonder if they’re true.

Do not let the constant barrage of criticism against sermons shake your confidence in God’s preached word. Preaching cannot do everything, but it does something that the church desperately needs.

Hold on to your confidence in God’s word. Hold on to the centrality of preaching itself. Do not settle for only a discussion of God’s word. Long for the proclamation of God’s word.

Study church history and recognize the preaching of God’s word is often under attack, but that should not change how we see it.

Do not pay attention to the ongoing criticism against the importance of preaching in the life of the church. We need more than preaching, but we don’t need less preaching. Preaching will always be central to the life of a healthy church.

Big Idea: In response to the gospel, offer your whole self to God, and submit to the Spirit as he changes your thinking.

One of the big questions that I’ve wrestled with for a long time is this: how can we change? If you’re like me, you need to change. You have bad habits you can’t break, good habits that you can’t maintain, sins that continue to tempt you, and struggles that you face every single day of your life. How can we change? How can we see real progress in our lives so that we become who God intends us to be?

Today’s passage gives us the answer.

In just a few words that you can read in less than a minute, the passage we just read tells you everything you need to know about how you can change from where you are right now to the person God wants you to be. It’s a summation of what it means to live faithfully for God. It explains the power that changes us, and then it gives us two specific steps that we need to take in response to that power.

The Power That Changes Us

Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God…”

Don’t rush by this first half of the verse. This verse marks a major transition in Paul’s letter to the Romans. In this verse he moves from the doctrinal section of the book of Romans (chapters 1 to 11) to the practical section (chapters 12 to 16). The first 11 chapters of this letter are almost exclusively doctrinal, presenting the greatest masterpiece of Christian truth ever written. Beginning at chapter 12, the Apostle moves to the practical section: the application and outworking of Christian doctrine in daily life. This is because Paul was both a great teacher who wants us to understand the riches of the doctrine of the gospel, and because he’s a pastor with a tender heart who wants us to know how to live. We need the truth, and then we need the truth to shape how we live.

There are two equal and opposite mistakes we can make in the Christian life.

• We can emphasize the doctrinal and ignore the practical, which means that we fill our heads with great truths but have no clue how to live.
• Or we can emphasize the practical and ignore the doctrinal, which means we emphasize the to-do’s of the gospel while ignoring the power that makes obedience possible.

That’s why Dr. Marytn Lloyd-Jones said, “I spend half my time telling Christians to study doctrine and the other half telling them that doctrine is not enough.” If you have doctrine without application, you have information without transformation, truth that stays in the notebook but never makes it into the body, the calendar, or the relationships. If you have application without doctrine, you have behavior without power: a Christianity of tips, where obedience becomes self-effort, guilt-driven striving, or moralism instead of Spirit-empowered worship.

What we really need is doctrine applied. The foundation of our obedience is the gospel. So Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God…” When we writes “therefore,” he is making a pivot from the first 11 chapters of Romans. He’s telling us what all of this doctrine means for us. When he says “the mercies of God,” he means everything that he has covered so far in Romans 1-11:

• That all of humanity is guilty of sin and deserving of God’s wrath (chapters 1-3)
• That through faith in what Christ has done, sinners can be justified or made right with God (chapters 4-5)
• That we’re not just forgiven; the Spirit transforms believers, freeing them from slavery to sin and empowering righteous living (chapters 6-8)
• That God shows mercy to all, both Jews and Gentles, because he always keeps his promises (Romans 9-11)

In light of all of this, in light of the glorious gospel that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, Paul makes an appeal to us. In light of God’s mercy to inexcusable and undeserving sinners, live this way.

What Paul is showing us is how the Christian life works. He’s showing us how we actually change. This comprehensive understanding of the Gospel is foundational.

Do you want to change? Stare at the truths of Romans 1-11 until it moves you to worship. Don’t just fill your head; look at what God has done through Jesus to rescue you, and let that fill your heart with praise. But don’t stop there. Then let the doctrine that has filled your heart with worship also change the way you live.

The gospel is what fuels our change. And we work that change out in real life by fixing our eyes on the gospel until it leads us to worship, so that what we believe with our minds and what we love with our hearts begins to shape how we actually live, day by day, in ordinary life.

Christian, every week, come and fill your minds with the truths of the gospel. But don’t stop there. Let those truths fill not just your head but your heart with worship. Bow down before a God who would love you, save you, forgive you, adopt you, and give you all the blessings of the gospel. And let those truths and that worship shape how you live with your life.

If you want to change, constantly reflect on the mercies of God towards us, and live in light of those mercies. Doctrine leads to duty. Right beliefs lead to right worship, which leads to right behavior. That’s how we change.

Two Responses

In light of Romans 1 to 11, Paul says, do two things. Paul is not making a suggestion here. He is stating the Christian’s duty and obligation. This obligation is not cold or mechanical but is fueled by the grace of God. It’s the natural outgrowth of the truths we believe. Paul is saying that it is our obligation to think about what Christ has done and to make our commitment accordingly.

Here are the two practical responses to the gospel that change how we live. These are our reasonable responses to the gospel.

Offer your whole self to him

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (12:1)

The gospel requires your wholehearted devotion. Paul calls us to present your bodies. This is more than your physical body; Paul is talking about the totality of who you are. Calvin is right: “By bodies he means not only our skin and bones, but the totality of which we are composed.” Paul is talking about your mind, your will, your emotions, and your actions. All of you. Present it all to him. This is not a one-time act; the language Paul uses signifies an ongoing, continuous act. Every day, present all of yourself to him.

The image Paul uses is a striking one. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” In the Old Testament, believers offered animal, drink, grain, and first-fruit offerings to God. “Present” means that they laid the sacrificial animal on the altar. It involved a complete surrender of that animal to the Lord.

Now things have changed. The Old Testament priests offered these sacrifices daily, but now Jesus has offered himself up once for all as the final, sufficient sacrifice for sin. But that doesn’t mean Christians don’t offer sacrifices anymore. This side of the cross, we don’t offer animals as sacrifices; we present something else completely to God: ourselves. And not one time, like an animal that died. We don’t die once on an altar. We keep showing up to offer ourselves every day to God.

Offer all of you. Offer your eyes. Offer your ears. Offer your feet. Offer your hands. Offer your mouth. Offer your mind. Offer your heart.

Paul says that this daily offering of ourselves is holy and acceptable to God. That means that just as God was pleased when his people offered sacrifices to him according to his commands in the Old Testament, God is pleased when we devote our whole lives to him. God is pleased when we, in response to what Jesus has done, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, offer all of ourselves to him.

Paul also says that this is our spiritual worship. The word “spiritual” could also be translated as “rational service” or “reasonable.” In other words, when we see what Jesus has done for us, it is only reasonable to give all of ourselves to him. This is the only logical response to the gospel. It only makes sense.

To put it a different way, it is unreasonable, irrational to give part of ourselves to God when Jesus gave everything for us. When we give God only part of our money, part of our obedience, part of our minds, we’re irrational. God wants all of us, and it is reasonable to offer all of us to God because Jesus gave everything for us.

How should we respond to the gospel? Give all of yourself to God. Make this your daily commitment to God. Hold nothing back. This is the first practical response to the gospel, and we’re called to do this every day. Here’s the second:

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (12:2)

Where does renewal happen? It happens in your mind. I love how Lee Eclov put it: “The Bible spends much more time on shaping the spiritual mind than commanding particular behavior.” God is interested in shaping our minds, and the change in how we think results in a transformation in how we live. “Our lives are transformed only when our minds are renewed” (Sinclair Ferguson).

There’s a positive and a negative side to this command.

The Negative

Do not be conformed to this world. The word “world” here means our present age. Our present age has a set of beliefs, and it wants you to adopt them. It has a system of views, values, expectations, goals, convictions, and actions that are diametrically opposed to how God thinks.

In other words, we need to “understand the characteristic drift of our particular cultural moment and then guard against its sinful excesses” (Matthew Bingham). If we’re not careful, we risk being carried away by how the world thinks without even realizing it.

Our present age keeps telling one basic story: life is about you—your achievement, your desires, and your self-defined truth. It pressures us to fit that mold in a few repeating ways:

• Performance is your worth. You matter as much as you achieve, produce, or impress.
• Pleasure is your purpose. The good life is comfort, possessions, and sexual fulfillment, so suffering and self-denial look like mistakes.
• Self is your authority. Truth is something you create (“live your truth”), and your feelings become the final word on what’s real.
• Desire is your identity. What you want defines who you are, so to deny yourself is treated as harmful or dishonest.
• Now is all you have. “You only live once,” so take what you can, chase what you want, and don’t let anything—especially God—get in the way.

We hear these messages every single day. Our greatest danger is that not persecution or government or the liberal agenda. Our greatest danger is that, as Christians, we will be infiltrated by the beliefs of our age and be conformed by the way the world thinks. Paul says: don’t do this. We need to think differently from the way the world wants us to think.

The Positive

What’s the alternative? “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The idea is that we’re changed into something completely new. How does this happen?

The command isn’t to transform your own mind. That would be impossible. You don’t have what it takes. The invitation is to be transformed. That means someone does it to you. The Holy Spirit is the one who changes what you think. We’re called to cooperate with this work by doing things like meditating on God’s word, by doing what Paul describes in Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

As we do this, Paul says, we will be able to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We will be able to discern the right way to live, a way that is pleasing and acceptable to God.

Here it is in a nutshell. In response to the gospel, offer your whole self to God, and submit to the Spirit as he changes your thinking. This is how we change.

Believer, this is what God is calling you to do.

Let me ask you two questions.

First: have you offered yourself to him in response to the gospel? Have you given him all of you, every part of your life, every part of your body, holding nothing back? This is your reasonable, daily response to the gospel. Are you doing this?

Second: how are you thinking? Either the world is shaping the way you think, or God is. Which is it? Our current age is shaping how you think, which changes how you live, or God is changing how you think, which changes how you think. Are you intentionally resisting being conformed by our present age? How can you intentionally lean into the Spirit changing how you live as you immerse yourself in God’s word?

This is the only rational way to live in response to the gospel. This is how we change. This is what Paul is going to unpack in the rest of the book.

Do you want to change? I do. Keep meditating on the truths of the gospel. And then respond. Respond by holding nothing back. Give your whole life to the One who gave everything to you. And then cooperate as he transforms the way you think so you know how to live. This is the way we change. This is what God is calling you to do.

Curated links for your weekend reading:

The Staggering Beauty and Burden of Church Life

In that moment, I glimpse just how meaningful an ordinary worship gathering is.

You Think You’re Willing to Die for Christ, but Will You Work in the Nursery for Him?

It’s like we’re sitting around waiting for God to call upon us to make some grand, heroic gesture that will prove our love for him.

Help! I Preached a Rubbish Sermon.

Terrible sermons are no match for the sovereignty of God.

5 Reasons Why Church Governance Is Complex

Church governance includes all these responsibilities, but it also carries significant relational and spiritual dimensions.

Is Hell Eternal?

According to the 2026 Ligonier State of Theology, however, almost 50% of Canadian Evangelical’s surveyed either disagreed with or were unsure about this view.

How Headship and Submission Function When Husbands and Wives Disagree

The bottom line is that headship will occasionally require a husband to make a unilateral decision in order to protect his family, but it should be the exception, not the rule.

Teaching the Church to Die Well

The church's failure to form a distinctly Christian culture of dying has ceded the task of catechism to the medical industrial complex, and its false creed of “if you can, you should.”

Daily Vigilance for Lifelong Productivity

Daily productivity requires often elusive focus and grit.

Here’s a short catechism on technology. I found it helpful to think through a biblical and theological perspective on this important topic.

Technology and the Creation Mandate

1. What is technology?

Technology is using knowledge and skills to make and use things and methods that solve problems, meet needs, and extend our capacities.

2. Where did technology come from?

Technology is part of God’s mandate for humans to cultivate creation and rule over the earth (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 8:6). God created us in his image to cultivate creation’s latent potential.

3. Is technology good or bad?

Technology is powerful. It can be used well to steward creation and promote human flourishing. But because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, technology is cursed with thorns and thistles, and can tempt and shape us in harmful ways.

Technology After the Fall

4. How can technology tempt us?

Technology can tempt us to ignore God’s word, attempt to transcend human limits, and live independently of God, trusting in our own abilities rather than in him (Genesis 3:4-5; 11:1-9). It makes us feel like we can be everywhere, know everything, and fix every weakness rather than accept our creaturely limits. It promises quick power, but bypasses the slow process of growth that makes us wise, resilient, and loving.

5. What does Scripture teach us about technology after the Fall?

Technology can serve God’s purposes in a fallen world (Genesis 4:17–22). The same tools can also tempt us to reach beyond our limits and seek security and significance apart from God (Genesis 11:1-9). Scripture shows that we can use technology for worship and faithful service (Exodus 31) or idolatry, turning our works into substitutes for him (Exodus 32). When we place our confidence in technology instead of the Lord, we are guilty of spiritual unfaithfulness, placing our hope in human power rather than in God (Psalm 20:7; Proverbs 21:31; Isaiah 31:1–3).

6. How did Jesus and the apostles use technology?

Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul used technology in their vocations. Within their ministries, both Jesus and the apostles used technology sparingly, and not as a substitute for embodied relationships, the church, and personal ministry.

Artificial Intelligence

7. Is AI good or bad?

AI is both good and bad. AI is a form of technology, and it can be used faithfully or unfaithfully, in both helpful and harmful ways.

8. What are some limits of AI?

AI can hallucinate (make errors). It tends to flatter and carries the biases of the people who built it. It can never worship, love, feel, or truly think.

9. What are some good uses of AI?

AI can be helpful for tasks like coding, summarizing, researching, analyzing, and tackling tedious work.

10. What are some unhelpful uses of AI?

It’s unwise to use AI without disclosure so that others believe the work is ours, to use it as a substitute for genuine creative work, to lean on it so heavily that our skills and judgment atrophy, or to use it as a substitute for real, human relationships. It’s also unwise to treat chatbots as persons, especially as a substitute for friends, counsellors, or pastors.

11. What can AI never give us?

AI can never give us what we need most: love, sacrifice, and the capacity to worship. These are gifts that only God and humans created in his image can give.

A Faithful Digital Life

12. What makes it difficult to use technology wisely?

By its very nature, technology is more vivid, distracting, and falsely intimate than our analog lives. Technology also shapes us. Our daily digital habits, repeated over time, train our attention, imagination, and desires, often without us noticing.

13. What are some questions we should ask when we use technology?

First, does this technology help me honour God and love my neighbour? Or is it tempting me to transcend my creaturely limits, put my trust in something other than God, and move me away from serving and loving people?

Second, what is the hidden cost? Every technology contains a tradeoff, usually hidden, and not every tradeoff is worth making.

Third, how is this technology shaping me? We must pay attention to how technology is changing our souls, and lean into practices like Scripture, prayer, worship, and Christian community that shape our souls toward Christ (Romans 12:2).

14. What is our calling regarding technology?

God calls us to use technology with gratitude and discernment as faithful stewards, while keeping our worship, trust, and love fixed on God rather than on what we have made.

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Any Human Ever

If you could draw a life at random from all of human history, what would it look like? Roll the dice, and see a genuinely random life, depicted as well as the data allow.

We Need Healthy Tribalism

This article explores the concept of healthy tribalism.

What a Church Can Do Before a Pastor Falls

There is nothing a church can do that is more important or effective than this: ensure that your pastor is qualified.

Plagiarism And The Preacher

It is easy to read someone else’s message on Sunday morning. And AI can write sermons.

The Ministry of Saying Less | Biblical Preaching

Good preaching, teaching, leading, and counselling require not only knowing what to say, but knowing what not to say.

My post at Gospel for Life: Ask for Help

The real issue is whether we will humble ourselves and admit that we need God’s help, and then live in daily dependence on him.

My column at TGC Canada: Learning From the Faithful

We need more people like this couple to show others what it’s like to walk with God without pretense and with great joy, even after experiencing all that life’s thrown at them.

I received a yunomi (a Japanese cup with no handle) a couple of months ago for my birthday. I love it. It was handcrafted by a local potter. I asked for it because I wanted a daily reminder of the kind of work that I want to do. I don’t want to batch-produce content or add to the slop that’s flooding the Internet. I want to write, preach, and read slowly with love and great care.

The more the world is flooded with cheap and mass-produced items, the more that this matters. I spoke to a furniture maker recently who decried the trend toward buying cheap, disposable furniture that’s replaced every five years. Few people are buying the handmade, solid-wood furniture he makes that will last a lifetime. The more the world has things we throw away, the more I like sitting on the solid wood chair in my living room. This chair has been here longer than I have, and it will likely last longer than I do too.

According to Pew Research, it seems that a third of new online content is likely written or substantially edited by AI. I’m guessing this number will grow. The more we have to wade through AI slop, the more human-written content will stand out. I think we’ll be able to tell, and I think it will matter.

The same applies to preaching. As long as I can remember, preachers have been able to take shortcuts in the process of preparing a sermon. We can piggyback on the work of others, and now we can leverage AI in the research, writing, and evaluation of our sermons. Still, nothing will ever replace the preacher’s work and meditation on the text. I can tell when a preacher has sweated through the preparation process. I can tell when preachers have first applied the sermons to themselves. I can tell when a preacher (including me) has not, and there’s a world of difference. The more shortcuts preachers can take, the more valuable it will become when preachers do all the hard work necessary to not only prepare a good sermon but prepare their hearts as well. No shortcut will ever get you there.

This is a call to care. It’s a call to inconvenience and inefficiency. It’s a call to bucking the trends, to developing one’s craft, to wrestling with God and the work he has given us to do. I would never say that it’s always wrong to use AI, but I would argue that some things matter too much to entrust the work to a machine. We need human writers. We need human preachers. We need to take a stand and fight against the flood of poor-quality work produced by machines that try to seem real. Instead, we should create what is genuine, human, and costly.

The more we’re flooded with what’s cheap and commodified, the more our human work will matter. Never surrender the best of what it means to be human to a machine. The more machines do the work, the more we need people like you to write, preach, speak, create, and love in ways that machines cannot.

Big Idea: God invites everyone in, but only those who are truly changed by Jesus belong at the feast.

We used to get them in the mail. Now we get them by email. “We’re getting married,” the email reads, “and you’re invited to join us.” You click a link and find all the details, and then you have to RSVP.

You know the drill. You check your calendar. You think about what you have to wear. You do all kinds of calculations, and then you click either “joyfully accept” or “regretfully decline.” You make a decision, and you live with it.

Sometimes it takes some thought. Other times, there’s no question. If someone really matters to you, of course you’re going to attend! You’re going to cancel any other plan. You’re going to pay whatever money you need to pay. You know you just have to be there.

The Kingdom’s Like a Wedding Feast

According to Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is like that. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…” (Matthew 22:2).

By kingdom of heaven, he means God’s power and rule breaking into reality. It’s where God’s kingly rule is acknowledged, and where his will is done.

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like being invited to a wedding. When you’re a king, and your son gets married, it’s a big deal. It’s not just about the wedding of a prince and heir; it’s preparation for him to take the throne, and the start of a new royal family.

Think about this. It’s “the greatest celebration imaginable thrown by the wealthiest person imaginable for the most honored person imaginable” (John MacArthur).

So how exactly is the kingdom of heaven like this? One of the major themes throughout the Bible is that of the messianic banquet. Isaiah 54 and 55 describe a divine marriage where the Lord will prepare a feast of rich food and well-aged wine for all peoples on his mountain. The best food and wine is available free of charge. It’s not just a meal, but the start of a brand new creation with no more death, no more tears. Everyone’s welcome to attend free of charge. It’s what we can look forward to one day.

In Matthew 22, Jesus is saying that this wedding feast is beginning. And Jesus is the son for whom the king arranges the wedding feast. All throughout Matthew, Jesus has called himself the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15). In other words, Jesus is the king who is taking his bride. His wedding marks the beginning of a new creation in which everything is set right. This is the culmination of redemptive history. Everything converges with this important moment in history as Jesus takes his bride.

And what a party it is. Verse 4 says, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”  In those days, guests would be fed and cared for over seven days, and if you were a king, it could extend far beyond that. So this is a feast, a party, that is better than anything you could imagine.

God’s kingdom is like a lavish, freely offered wedding feast celebrating Jesus the Bridegroom. It signals that God’s rule is breaking in and launching a new creation where all is made right. Everyone’s invited, so the only right response is to come and join the joy.

I want you to think about that. You’re invited to be part of the best celebration in history, free of charge, as you come to Jesus. Everything is provided for you. You just have to come. As Isaiah 55:1 says:

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.

The kingdom is like a wedding feast. That’s the first thing that Jesus tells us. But then he says something else.

Not Everyone Wants to Come

What do you do when you’re invited to the prince’s wedding feast? You attend! But that’s not what happens in this story.

The king sends out notice of the wedding in verses 3 and 4. Back then, you would get a preliminary invitation. But then, when everything was ready, you would get a second summons, saying, “Remember that wedding feast you were invited to? It’s ready. Come to the party!”

Shockingly, they refuse to come. But then he sent other servants. What remarkable patience. He didn’t just give up on his guests when they refused his invitation. He absorbed their rejection and extended another gracious invitation to join the feast.

But verse 5 says that they just went about their business and ignored the invitation. In that culture, this would have been unthinkable. This was more than rudeness; it insulted the dignity of the king who had counted on their attendance and graciously prepared food for them. It was a direct challenge to the king’s authority. It was absurd and unthinkable for anything like this to happen.

But it gets worse. Verse 6 says some “seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” No wonder the king responded as he did in verse 7: “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” Initially, the king responded with patience, but his patience will not last forever. The king tolerates rejection, but cannot tolerate rebellion and murder. The king’s patience has its limits. The king extends grace, but when that grace is rejected, it ultimately gives way to judgment.

What Jesus does with this picture is to tell the story of Israel’s history, right up until that day. God sent servant after servant, prophet after prophet to Israel. But the people rejected what they had to say. They persecuted and murdered them.

Even in Jesus’ day, messengers went out with the invitation. John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the disciples went out with the message. But again, they were rejected. And ultimately, they killed Jesus.

In his famous sermon in Acts 7, Stephen said:

Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it. (Acts 7:52-53 CSB)

Do not ignore or reject the invitation from the king. How you respond really matters.

God’s kingdom is like a lavish wedding feast, signaling God’s reign breaking in to make all things new. But some refuse the invitation, leading to judgment. But then Jesus tells us something else, something surprising.

The King Invites Unexpected People

This is us in verses 9-10:

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The people who should have come don’t. So what does God do? He invites people who have no business coming. He invites the undeserving and unworthy. The king doesn’t invite only the worthy to the feast; he invites both good and bad.

The feast was meant for the important people. All of a sudden, the hungry, hopeless, and perhaps even the homeless are invited. Those who had every advantage and claim are excluded, and those who never dreamt of being invited to the feast are included.

This is how the kingdom works. God invites everyone to the wedding feast. You’re invited. He invites Jews and Gentiles, the worthy and unworthy, undesirables, tax collectors, and sinners. Everyone’s included.

Surprisingly, God is honored in these people coming. The British preacher Charles Spurgeon talks about how this new plan made the feast even better. The place was full. The guests were happy to be there. Those who came were grateful because they realized they didn’t deserve to be there. They were more joyful and they enjoyed the food more than those who were originally invited. The king’s generosity was more on display. Spurgeon says:

Certainly, the occasion became more famous than it would otherwise have been. If the feast had gone on as usual it would have been only one among many such things; but now this royal banquet was the only one of its kind, unique, unparalleled. To gather in poor men off the streets, labouring men and idle men, bad men and good men, to the wedding of the Crown Prince—this was a new thing under the sun. Everybody talked of it. There were songs made about it, and these were sung in the king’s honour where none honoured kings before.

The party was even better because of God’s generous invitation to those who didn’t belong.

God’s kingdom is like a huge wedding party God invites everyone to join. Some people refuse, so God welcomes even the unlikely people instead.

But there’s one more thing in this parable that we need to see.

It's Not Enough to Accept the Invitation

You would think the story would be over at this point. But the story takes a surprising twist in verses 11 to 13.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

When you attend a wedding, you know there’s a dress code. Back then, respectable clothing — probably white — was mandatory. Many believe that the host would furnish guests with clothing appropriate for the occasion.

This made the one guest surprising. He came without a wedding garment. This was not a case of someone who didn’t have better clothes. This is a case of refusal or negligence. He insulted the king by not bothering to clean or change his garment.

You can’t just accept the invitation; you must respond appropriately or you will be cast out of the banquet. Many false disciples think they belong. They have made a decision. They call him Lord. But without true repentance and faith, they will be cast out of the banquet.

Faith isn’t just agreeing with Christian ideas, showing up at church, or making a one-time decision. It’s more than mental assent, emotional regret, or simply admitting you’ve sinned. Biblical faith is a Spirit-given, gospel-shaped turning from sin to God that reshapes your life. It means forsaking sin and putting on Christ, so that real change and lasting fruit become visible. Anyone can make a decision, pray a prayer, or ask Jesus into your heart, but that doesn’t mean you’ve bowed to King Jesus with repentant trust. You’ve got to put on the righteousness provided to you. You’ve got to respond in life-changing faith.

God invites everyone in, but only those who are truly changed by Jesus belong at the feast.

That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s a lavish wedding feast symbolizing Jesus’ kingdom where the expected guests don’t come, the uninvited do, and you must wear the provided robes of righteousness.

Jesus concludes this story in verse 14 by saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” You’ve been invited, but that’s not enough. The question is: how will you respond? Will you blow off the invitation, as some in this story did? You must respond to the invitation in an appropriate way. Respond to his summons with repentance and right living, showing that you are one of his. Don’t miss the feast unmatchable feast that’s offered to anyone who truly and faithfully responds to the invitation you’ve been given.

Curated links for your weekend reading:

On Being a Self-Critical Christian

A lot of people like me, who are quick to critique and be critical of others, are firstly and most harshly critical of themselves.

Some Things Are Worth Holding Onto

In fact, the older I get, the more convinced I become that there are some efficiencies that are not improvements.

Teaching Theologically in an AI World

Here is what I want to challenge you with: efficiency is not formation.

The Year Is 2083 and You Die Leaving Nothing Behind but AI Slop

As you are lowered into the ground, OpenAI deletes your inactive ChatGPT account.

What Is a Liturgy, and Should We Have One?

So the question is not: Will we have liturgy? It is: What kind of liturgy will we have?

Walking Alongside Parents of LGBTQ+ Identifying Children: A Call to the Church

As the body of Christ, we have the privilege of entering into their suffering with compassion, hope, and faithful love.

My Father Spent Years Preparing His Boat for Journeys He Never Took. Now It May Finally Go Somewhere.

Fourteen years after my dad bought his custom-built cruiser, an adventurous young couple may finally give it the life he imagined.

We probably don’t do it as often as we should. Believer: remember your baptism.

I can’t remember the day that I first trusted Christ, but I can remember the date of my baptism: June 29, 1980. I remember standing in the baptistery, answering questions that my pastor asked me, and then being submerged under the water, and coming up again as the congregation sang another verse of the song “I Know Whom I Have Believed.”

I consider this day one of two that I try to remember often, along with the date of my wedding.

We should remember our baptism for two reasons.

Remember Baptism for What It Means

The Second London Baptist Confession says:

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.

There’s so much packed into the meaning of baptism. I often think that if God merely forgave us of our sins, that would be enough to amaze us. But that’s just the beginning. He not only justified us, but he’s welcomed us into his family. He’s given us all the benefits of his salvation, including adoption, his presence with us, and unshakeable hope in the future. He’s united us to him. He’s made us new. And that’s just a start.

If we meditated on all the benefits that are ours in salvation, we would be better for it. Baptism is one way for us to think about all of these benefits.

Baptism is part of how we lay hold on all of these benefits. It’s part of how we become a Christian. As Bobby Jameson says, when we pull the lens back, we can “look at the process of conversion as a unified whole, baptism included. According to the New Testament, baptism is where faith goes public, which means it’s an integral part of becoming a Christian.”

So when we meditate on our baptism, we’re meditating on the start of our life with God, and all the benefits that we get to enjoy as a result.

Remember Baptism for What It Means Today

Don’t just remember baptism for what it meant at the start of your walk with God; remember what it means for you today.

Surprisingly, the Westminster Confession includes a section on improving our baptism. Commenting on this section, David Mathis writes:

Bringing to mind our baptism is a potent way of bringing ourselves back to the gospel dramatized in the baptismal waters. In calling to mind our own baptism, we remember not just the experience, but its significance in pointing to what Jesus has accomplished.

Your baptism isn’t just a past event; it has continuing relevance for your life today. Don’t leave your baptism in your past. Remember it, and consider its ongoing relevance for the decisions, struggles, and temptations you face today.

Your baptism is a single past event with profound, ongoing significance. Christian: remember your baptism, not just today, but often. It will bring blessing and encouragement to your walk with God.

Curated links for your weekend reading:

TGC, AI, and the Democratization of Competence

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to suggest that the next world-changing technology is upon us in the form of artificial intelligence, and once again, there will be a time of negotiation and adaptation.

Don’t Be Ashamed to Be Old

If the time has come for you to be old, don’t be ashamed of your age, for you are simply joining company with many of the grandest things in all the universe.

The Best Thing You Can Do for Yourself in 2026 Is to Keep a Daily Diary

The best part about this project is it doesn’t need to take a lot of time.

Why Pastors Should Say “I Don’t Know” More Often

People are more willing to trust leaders who are honest about their vulnerabilities than those who only show their strengths.

Five Words in a Known Tongue

Our job is not to impress our people with how much we know. We can do so much better than that.

Fierce Wolves Will Come

When we fail to make younger pastors aware of these realities, we lead them to believe they will experience the exception and not the rule.

What to Do When Authors We Love Sin

Our church library’s little cull started as a judgement on the work and ministries of certain authors, but it was more than that.

Themelios 51.2

The August 2026 edition of Themelios is available for free

My post at Gospel for Life: How to Listen to a Sermon

Cultivate such a high view of Scripture that it shapes how you prepare, listen to, and respond to a sermon.

My column at TGC Canada: Dear Younger Pastor, Don’t Rush

Please learn from one of my biggest mistakes.

Just a reminder: You have an enemy, and he hates what is good in your life.

He probably hates your church. I say "probably" because Satan doesn’t hate all churches. But he hates churches that preach the gospel, that take his word seriously, that pursue true Christian unity and friendship, and that seek his glory. He will do everything he can to destroy and oppose such a church, often from within.

He hates your family. Satan hates marriages that reflect the beauty of the gospel. He hates children because they mean so much to the Lord, and because children are often quicker than adults at comprehending the beauty and wonder of Jesus. Satan will do everything he can to destroy your marriage and your children.

He hates the time you spend in Scripture and prayer. Satan doesn't mind an open Bible. He’s done some of his finest work among those who open and twist God’s revelation. But he hates a heart that trembles at his word (Isaiah 66:2). He fears even the weakest Christian who bows in prayerful reliance on our Father. Satan wants you to conclude that the Bible is boring and that prayer is a waste of your time.

I could go on. Satan hates all in your life that’s true, honorable, just, pure, lovely commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).

It may sound surprising that we believe in a real, personal enemy who is opposed to God and his people, but Jesus did. Jesus spoke honestly about his nature: he’s a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). He’s the father of all lies. In fact, the way that he murders is through his lies.

Paul spoke honestly about our spiritual opposition (Ephesians 6:10-20). In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warned, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

As I say, this may sound surprising, but I believe you’ll either embrace Scripture’s teaching or you’ll be repeatedly surprised as you encounter his work in your life.

None of this should alarm us, but it should prepare us. Satan is defeated. We can be put on God’s armor and stand against his themes (Ephesians 6:11), be sober-minded and watchful (1 Peter 5:8), and resist him (James 4:7). The one thing we dare not do is ignore him, because he thrives when we forget him and we’re unprepared for his schemes.

You have an enemy. Life makes a lot more sense when we live in light of that reality. It shouldn’t mean that we live scared; it should mean that we live aware. It should cause us to keep an eye out for his attacks, and to never be surprised when we experience them. It should cause us to live in dependence upon God, and to long for the day when our enemy will be fully and finally vanquished never to attack again.

Never forget that you have an enemy, and never forget you have One who defeated that enemy and will strengthen you when you experience the enemy’s attacks.

Big Idea: Grace isn’t a paycheck; it’s a gift.

If you are a parent or you manage people, there is one phrase I guarantee you will hear: “That’s not fair!” Kids, workers, and all of us tend to look around the room. We see how others are treated compared to us and quickly notice where we feel we are not getting enough. It’s our way of saying, “I want justice. I want equity. I want to be treated with the same care and given the same opportunities as everyone else.”

It’s a reflection of our longing to know that the rules are consistent, that we’re not being overlooked, and that we’re being treated. And, it turns out, we bring this into our relationship with God.

Here’s an example.

One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, said these words to Jesus: “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” (Matthew 19:27). Think about the audacity of this question. Jesus had taught the disciples that being a disciple meant renouncing all possessions and following him. Now, Peter tries to negotiate with Jesus by saying, “What’s in it for me?” Instead of accepting Jesus’ call as a reward, Peter calculates the return on his sacrifice. This transforms discipleship from devotion into a business arrangement.

Even worse, Peter thinks that he has special status. He seems to think that he’s done more and deserves more. Jesus had just finished teaching about self-sacrifice, and Peter follows it up with a question about what he’s going to get from following Jesus.

Here’s what Peter shows us: it’s easy to focus on the wrong thing when following Jesus. Instead of following him because he is worth our devotion, we can slip into following him for what’s in it for us. We can begin to view Christianity as a transaction, and to think that God owes us for our devotion to him. We believe God owes us something. And when we do this, we lose the beauty of the gospel. We get trapped by self-interest when we should be amazed by the great kindness of a loving God who doesn't owe us anything but has given us everything.

And to help us see this, Jesus tells a story. It’s a story that’s hard for us to accept, but is exactly what we need.

The Story

Here’s the story.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. (20:1-2).

This landowner had a vineyard. The challenge with owning a vineyard is that grape harvesting couldn’t be scheduled in advance. The owner had to determine daily when grapes reached optimal ripeness for the best price, and when that happened, he needed workers immediately.

So he goes out and looks for day laborers. Day laborers occupied the lowest rung on the socioeconomic ladder. Unemployment was so high that they would just wait around in the market, hoping that someone would come along and hire them. They didn’t have a lot going for them, except for when the grape harvest was ready. Then they had bargaining power because the landowner really needed workers to help him with the harvest.

So early in the morning, the landowner went out and hired a bunch of workers. He offered to pay them each a denarius, which represented a standard day’s wage for a full twelve-hour workday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. All good so far. The day laborers got a job, and the landowner got his workers.

But the landowner soon realized he needed more workers. He went to the market again at 9 a.m. and found more workers just waiting around, and he hires them. This time he doesn’t say how much he will pay them. He just says he will pay them what’s right.

Why weren’t they hired before? We don’t know for sure, but the later workers say they were standing around because nobody had hired them yet. Maybe these were less desirable laborers. Maybe the landowner was trying to make sure he didn’t hire too many people for the job. But he kept going back and repeating the process. His first trip was at 6 a.m. Then we went back at 9, at noon, at 3 in the afternoon, and finally at 5:00, just an hour before quitting time. He made five trips to the marketplace in total, and the laborers worked anywhere from 12 hours to 1 hour before quitting time.

What did he promise them? He promised the first batch a day’s wages. He promised the rest that he would pay them what was right.

Here’s the shocking part in verses 8 to 10.

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

At day’s end, the landowner paid everyone the same wage—starting with the men hired for the last hour and ending with those who had worked all day. Each one received a full day’s pay.

Now picture yourself in the first group—tired, sweaty, twelve hours into the heat. You watch the landowner place a denarius into the hands of the latecomers, and you can’t help doing the math: “If they’re getting that much for one hour, this is going to go really well for me.” But then the ones who worked three hours received the same. So do the ones who worked six. And nine. And finally, you step forward—after twelve hours—and you’re given the very same denarius.

It would feel deeply unfair, even unjust, like the landowner is treating unequal work as though it were equal. Everyone would expect that those who worked longer in harsher conditions would get more pay.

They let the landowner know about it.

And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ (20:11)

It’s hard to blame them, isn’t it?

The landowner replied:

Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? (20:13-15)

The landowner makes two main arguments.

First, he made a legal argument. He has fulfilled, to the letter, the legal obligation he made to each worker. He delivered exactly what he said he would. He hasn’t shortchanged any of the workers a single penny.

But then he made a second argument, and it’s a moral one. He has the right to do what he likes with his money, and if he chooses to be generous, that’s his prerogative.

“Really?” we want to say. It still doesn’t feel fair. It would have been shocking then, just as it’s shocking now. What employer runs a business like that? It sounds irrational—and it would create instant resentment on the job site. By ordinary standards, it isn’t just unconventional; it’s terrible business. If you paid this way all the time, you’d invite conflict, lose your best workers, and eventually go broke. And even if the landowner has the legal right to do it, the outcome still feels unjust.

Jesus gives us this parable to unsettle and startle us so we realize something important about what it means to follow him.

The Point

Do you remember Peter’s question? “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Here’s the mental framework that Peter had: God is like a cosmic accountant, tallying our efforts and distributing rewards proportionately based on our work.

But here’s the truth that this story reveals. God’s gift of salvation is just and generous. Nobody deserves the grace we’ve been given. Rather than looking around and asking what’s in it for us, we should be amazed that we get anything at all because we don’t deserve anything. It’s all a gift.

Think about the really great believers: those who have served God a long time and have sacrificed a lot for the kingdom. Think about those who have sacrificed most for God, particularly people who have devoted themselves to religious service or moral achievement. This includes those in positions of spiritual authority or those with exceptional moral track records.

Now consider those who haven’t done as much. In Peter’s day, that would have included people like little children; a leper; two blind men; a centurion; a paralytic; a Canaanite woman; and a tax collector, to name just a few. These are “the last,” the ones no one else wants. No one thinks they’re worth hiring, worth investing in, or even worth noticing. They are the overlooked and unskilled, the oldest and weakest, the ones assumed to be least productive, and therefore most easily ignored.

So what does God owe those who have worked hard and sacrificed so much? The same thing he owes those who have done little: nothing. We don’t earn a standing in God’s kingdom. Everything we receive is grace. Our place with God does not rest on human merit in any sense. We never deserve his favor—and if we start to think we do, we put ourselves in real spiritual danger, because we’ve forgotten that it’s all grace from beginning to end.

There is no one who doesn’t need God’s grace, and there is no one beyond the reach of God’s grace.

A visiting preacher once got a note:

I am in great perplexity. I have been praying for a long time for something that I am confident is according to God’s will, but I do not get it. I have been a member of the Presbyterian church for thirty years, and have tried to be a consistent one all that time. I have been the superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-five years and an elder in the church for twenty years; and yet God does not answer my prayer. Can you explain why?

Do you see his reasoning? “I’ve done all this for God; why isn’t God paying me back? Why isn’t he keeping his end of the bargain?”

Here’s how the preacher replied:

This man thinks that because he has been a consistent church member for thirty years, a faithful Sunday school superintendent for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years that God is under obligation to answer his prayer. He is really praying in his own name, and God will not hear our prayers when we approach him in that way. We must, if we would have God answer our prayers, give up any thought that we have any claims upon God. There is not one of us who deserves anything from God.

Do you hear this? We must give up any thought that we have any claims on God. There is not one of us who deserves anything from God!

That’s why Jesus says in verse 16, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” I love how one man (Michael Green) puts it:

Many Christians who have worked hard for God over a long period will have a lowly place in the kingdom because their motives were not purged of the ideas of merit and reward. Many poor Christians who came to faith only at the end of their life will be high in the kingdom because they knew they had done nothing to boast of, and never gave rewards a thought. They just responded to the unexpected love that sought them and accepted them.

Grace isn’t a paycheck; it’s a gift. In the end, the only right way to respond to grace is to express amazement that God has given us grace at all.

So here’s the answer to Peter’s question. Peter asked, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Here’s the answer that this story gives us: you get the same thing every Christian gets and every Christian needs. You get grace that you don’t deserve, and a Savior you could never repay. So lay down the scoreboard, silence the grumbling, and let the generosity of God move you from entitlement to worship that God has chosen to save someone like you.