The Gospel Coalition

As a teenager, I didn’t know about the Christian doctrine of vocation. I believed some people did important things—my pastor was working for God; others, like missionaries, doctors, and high-level leaders, were changing the world. I never imagined the work familiar to me (farming and construction) could be a calling from God or make a significant difference. I was wrong. You may have a similar outlook. You want your life to mean something. You crave significance. But you aren’t sure how those proper desires relate to the ordinary work you do every day. If you’re a serious believer, you may wonder, Are some jobs more Christian than others? Am I really changing the world as I change tires or diapers? The biblical doctrine of calling, or vocation, can answer those questions and put you on the right track of working for God no matter your occupation.

What are your rhythms for sermon preparation? How should this be prioritized alongside other responsibilities? How can you grow more efficient and effective while remaining faithful to the task? In this episode of The Everyday Pastor, Matt Smethurst and Ligon Duncan discuss the rigors and joys of sermon prep. Watch the full episode by clicking through to the article or listen to The Everyday Pastor wherever you get your podcasts.

Friends were surprised when we had a funeral for Asher, since he never took a breath in this world. He was stillborn, but his life was sacred, his death evil, and his funeral a time for mourning. The tragedy demanded we (his mother and brother) both reckon with death in unique ways. As his then 5-year-old brother, I (Noah) convinced myself I’d killed him because I ran into my mother’s pregnant belly one time in the hallway. I took months to confess my guilt, and then she assured me of my innocence. But I can’t forget holding his lifeless body in the hospital and later laying it in a grave. I can’t forget wondering why this happened and thinking the answer was “because of me.” It wasn’t, but it made me hate death and forced me to remember it. As Asher’s mother, I (Megan) recall his funeral with agony. My memories begin with the tiny casket draped in roses and end with the bizarre, hurtful comments of family and friends. “At least you have your other children,” one said. Others, with the attitude of Job’s wife, thought we should rail in anger against “the kind of God who would do this.” I thought of the many women across the world who were in my position without any resurrection hope. What would they do with all this grief? The answer, to some degree, is that as a culture we’ve exchanged the mourning of death at funerals for the “celebration of life”; we’ve separated graveyards from church property and relegated them to memorial parks, hidden from view; and we’ve overwhelmingly chosen cremation (61.9 percent) rather than burial (33.2 percent), so we don’t have to see dead bodies. Perhaps there’s a cultural illusion that if we don’t think about it, don’t talk about it, and don’t see it, it won’t happen to us or our children. But it will. We’re going to die. The coddling of the American funeral is a tragedy worth grieving. As Christians, we should ponder death with more grief and more hope than our unbelieving neighbors.

When my pastors approached me about teaching women’s Sunday school, I was intimidated. I love teaching the Bible, but the majority of women who attend the class are at least 40 years older than me—and 40 times godlier. What could I offer these women who’ve faithfully followed Jesus for longer than I’ve been alive? But my pastors and future coteacher were persistent. So I got a teacher’s guide and began preparing to teach the wise women of Grace Baptist Church. It turns out, teaching that class was one of the best things I could’ve done as a young adult.

When you think about your church’s culture, you can likely identify positive and negative aspects. There’s no perfect church. So you involve yourself in Christ’s body not because a church has it all together or has attained human perfection but because you are, in fact, “involved” in Christ’s body. Ephesians 2:19–22 (CSB) explains this about all believers: “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household . . . being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” Christians are joined together for a holy purpose. We’re “one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). The question, then, is how imperfect people of all walks of life are joined together in Christ. And what does that mean for our assurance and our destiny?

I used to have a quote from G. K. Chesterton hanging on my bedroom wall: “Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” I wanted to remind myself to be grateful, but it really got me thinking about wonder. Wonder starts with humility and openness, which create space for ideas of amazement and revelation. Wonder is also inherent in Christianity. We know there’s more than we can know, and we’re prepared to be surprised by the invisible God whose thoughts are beyond our thoughts (Isa. 55:8–9). Christmas is filled with wonder as God takes on human flesh and works in mysterious ways to save us. As the holidays approach, I want to celebrate books that feature an aspect of wonder, an unexpected adventure or joy in surprising places or something astonishingly beautiful or brave or good we might look at every day but sometimes forget to see. Here are five wonderful new picture books to share with the children in your life.

Here’s my review of ‘Wicked’ for The Gospel Coalition. It’s a movie full of fun costumes, catchy songs, and good vibes—but fairly confusing, rather unhelpful ideas about morality.

Forgiveness is not the opposite of seeking true justice. It is, among many other things, its precondition. - Tim Keller

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–92) continues to be a colossal influence on gospel-centered ministry. Contemporaries recognized his significance, resulting in many biographies of him in the months and years following his death, not to mention those written during his lifetime. However, new developments, like the creation of the Spurgeon Center at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, have opened up new opportunities for exploring studies of Spurgeon’s legacy. In Spurgeon: A Life, Alex DiPrima provides an updated and accessible biography of the Prince of Preachers. Few of Spurgeon’s many biographies accurately portray his life or reflect the scholarly precision his legacy warrants. This new portrayal serves the church because it “makes some improvements over previous accounts of his life and also takes into view many of the new studies and new data now available to historians and researchers” (15–16). Beyond increasing appreciation of Spurgeon, this book aims to help readers develop “a deeper love for the glorious Savior who captivated Spurgeon’s heart and life.”

In her TGCW24 message, Ruth Chou Simons unpacks Jesus’s statement “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” from John 14:1–14. When we believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we find comfort and hope, knowing that nothing in the world can shake this truth. Jesus’s claim is exclusive, and many will find it offensive. But the truth that no one can come to the Father except through Jesus is the greatest comfort for troubled hearts. Christ, the perfect offering, is the only One who could make a way to God for us. Watch the full episode below or listen in the TGC Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.