Redeeming Church Archives

How can Christians find Fellowship? A discussion with Richard Jacobson (Hebrews 10:25)

Millions of Christians have questions about church and how to find true Christian fellowship. In this podcast interview, Richard Jacobson and Jeremy Myers discuss how to be the church and why Hebrews 10:25 does not teach that all Christians must attend a church service on Sunday morning.

Church fellowship is critical, but there are a variety of ways God leads us to find this fellowship.

Links mentioned in this discussion with Richard Jacobson:

Richard Jacobson’s website: Unchurching.com
The Unchurching book on Amazon
The Unchurching Comic book
Richard Jacobson’s Animated Explainer Videos on YouTube
The Unchurching Facebook Group
Support Richard Jacobson on Patreon
Richard Jacobson’s TED Talk:

Adventures in Fishing for Men – A Humorous Satire of Evangelism

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Don’t tell one more person about Jesus until you read my new book. Don’t attempt any more evangelism until you read it.

Seriously.

Most Christians are doing more harm than good with how they attempt to “share Jesus” with others.

Many of the modern “evangelistic” efforts of Christians only do harm to the cause of Christ and the message of the gospel.

If you want to see what I mean, I “explain” it all in parable form through my new book, Adventures in Fishing for Men.

This book is an allegory, or parable, about evangelism. In it, a nameless man (Is it you? Is it me?) attempts to become a world-famous fisherman … all without ever catching any fish.

The book is funny, hilarious, entertaining, and most of all, insightful and instructional.

Here is what some others are saying about Adventures in Fishing for Men.

Adventures in Fishing for Men

This book was originally published back in 2012, but it has been significantly revised and expanded. It contains 50% new material, and also has a set of Discussion Questions to go along with each chapter.

These discussion questions will help you use this book for your small group class or Bible study. And since this book is humorous, if you use it for your small group Bible study or discussion group, it will be unlike any other study you have done. You will still learn, but through story and humor instead!

Did you want to learn about evangelism through humor?

Join my discipleship group and take the course which is related to this book. When you take this course, you will also gain background information about each chapter in the book, as well as some discussion questions to help you think through the content of the chapters. If you just want to buy the book, you can get it on Amazon here.

Christians Should Go to Hell

By Jeremy Myers
16 Comments

No, I am not condemning or cursing Christians to hell. Instead, I am inviting them to follow Jesus wherever He leads … even when it is straight to hell. In other words, I am saying that Jesus is leading you to go to hell.

Let me explain.

The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail Against It

In my book, The Death and Resurrection of the Church, I point out that the very first time Jesus talked about the church, He said that He was going to build it and that that gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

When most Christians read this, they imagine the church as this impregnable fortress, with huge white granite walls, behind which all the people of God huddle together in safety as the forces of evil attack from outside.

When most Christians read Matthew 16:18, they think Jesus is saying that the church He is building will be a place for Christians to safely wait out the onslaught of the invading hordes of hell.

But this is exactly the opposite of what Jesus says. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Do you see? Jesus is saying that the church He is building will go to hell and storm the gates of hell.

In other words, who has the gates and walls which keep out the invading army? Not the church, but hell.

And therefore, who is the invading army? Not hell, but the church.

When Jesus describes the church He is building, it is not the church which has the walls and gates, but hell. And it is not the devil and his forces that are attacking the gates of the church, but the church which is attacking the gates of hell. It is the church which will go to hell to rescue those who are there.

The gates of hell are under siege by Jesus and His church.

It is not the church that is attempting to hide behind gleaming walls as against an invading army. No, it is Satan and his minions who are huddled behind their blackened walls, hoping that the gates will hold.

Jesus says they will not. Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail. They will not stand. The gates of hell will fall to the invading church.

Of course, this presupposes that the church is on the offensive. That the church is invading hell. That the church has followed Jesus to hell. That the church will go to hell with Jesus.

It’s an exciting prospect!

But there is something else in Jesus’ statement as well.

Where is Hell? It is Here and Now

If the church is here in this world, and if Jesus is leading the church to attack the gates of hell now… then this means that hell is here and now as well.

It has been said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. If that’s true, the second greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the church that hell existed only in the afterlife, and only for unbelievers.

The truth, as indicated by Jesus Himself in Matthew 16, is that hell is here and now. Hell is a kingdom on this earth, and Jesus launched His attack on the gates of hell by inaugurating the kingdom of God on earth. We are now in the middle of a struggle between two kingdoms, and Jesus has shown us that the gates of hell will crumble and fall so that His rule and reign will cover the earth, until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord (Rom 14:11; Php 2:10).

If the church is going to go to hell with Jesus, then this means that the gates of hell must exist here and now, on this earth, during our lives, so that we can go to hell and attack the gates.

In his excellent article, “Hell is a Kingdom,” Brad Jersak writes this:

“Hell is a kingdom, located wherever people are imprisoned and oppressed by the ‘the powers’ and death-dealers of ‘this present darkness’—whether it’s the military-industrial-complex, corporate or political beasts, or any personal affliction, addiction or obsession of choice. … Jesus is not calling the death-snares of this world hades metaphorically in anticipation of the actual subterranean post-mortem hades. Just the opposite: the afterlife mythology of hades is a metaphor for the actual human condition ‘here above.’ The rhetoric or hell is less about the eschatological future and more about educating us in the ‘two ways’ or ‘two kingdoms’ competing for our allegiance here on earth.” (Sinner Irenaeus, aka Brad Jersak, “Hell is a Kingdom: The Missing Motif Reconstructed,” 6).

The message of the kingdom of God as taught by Jesus must be read in light of the idea that hell as a present reality.

It is to the humans caught in the kingdom of hell that Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt 4:17) This is not a promise to claim as we wait to die so we can go to heaven and spend an eternal bliss with God. This is a war cry. It is the declaration of Jesus the thief, entering into the strongman’s house, to tie him up and steal his possessions. What possessions? This world and the human beings upon it (Matt 12:29).

So the Church Should Go to Hell

The terrible, tragic reality is that while the church gets so caught up in the debate about who goes to hell, and how long they will be there, and whether or not hell is a place of eternal suffering or temporary purification, we are ignoring the people living in hell on earth all around us.

The debate about hell keeps us from helping those who are suffering in the kingdom of hell here and now. Isn’t that sadly ironic? We strengthen and enable hell by discussing and debating hell.

So where do you see the gates of hell in the lives of your family members? Where do you see the influence and power of hell in your neighborhood? Where do you see hell in your town or city? How can you go to hell by rescuing and delivering them?

Where do you see people living in addiction, bondage, guilt, shame, and fear? Where are they abused, maligned, neglected, forgotten, overlooked, abandoned, and forsaken? Where are they sold? Where are they starving? Where are they seeking love?

Wherever you see such things, you see the gates of hell.

What is the plan of attack to charge these gates and tear them down? With Jesus at your side, these gates will not prevail against you.

There are two kingdoms at war in this world, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell. Jesus is calling you to participate in one by storming the gates of the other.

Will you answer the call of Jesus and go to hell with Him?

This post is part of the May Synchroblog, in which numerous bloggers around the world write about the same topic on the same day. Links to the other contributors are below. Go and read what they have to say about the topic of hell.

An Investigation into the Biblical Concept of Hell – Justin Steckbauer
To Hell and Back – Soulcare Ministries
The HELL You Say! – Nathan Jennings
Forbidden Fruit = Hell’s Flames – Michael Wilson
How long does hell last? – K.W. Leslie
The problem of those unable to Love, or the question of hell as a reality – Bram Cools
Hell No! – Mike Edwards
Five Misconceptions about Annihilationism – Wesley Rostoll
Knowing Who You Trust – Tim Nichols
Heretic (Belated) Fridays – Bradley Jersak – Her Gates Will Never Be Shut– Scott Sloan
Hell – A Place of Passionate Desire – Alan Stevens
Oh, Hell, NO! – Liz Dyer

1 crazy suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20 that just might solve the baptism debate

By Jeremy Myers
20 Comments

Did you know there is a debate about whether we are supposed to be baptized “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20) OR “in the name of Jesus”?

Yes, we Christians argue over some silly things.

In my book, Dying to Religion and Empire, I talk about how some Christians view baptism as a magical incantation in which the right words need to be said in order for the magic spell to actually work. The whole thing is ridiculous.

But when Christians think that baptism is required to gain eternal life, then it also becomes important to make sure that the baptism is done in the right way with the right words.

Of course, when we realize that baptism is NOT required for eternal life, then this entire debate fades away into meaninglessness, but we already talked about this…

But let us try to solve the debate anyway … because … you know … Bible.

The Origins of the Baptism Debate

When people want be baptized “in the right way,” they argue about when baptism should take place, how much water is necessary, where the baptism can occur, who can perform the baptism, what actions should be performed during the baptism, and what words need to be said along with the baptism.

And again, according to some, if you don’t do all of it right, then it doesn’t work. Yes, just like a magic spell taught to Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Magic…

Now I am not going to try to solve the ENTIRE baptism debate, but we might be able to solve that last one, about which words need to be said at the baptism.

The debate began because the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 seems to be at odds with the actual practice of the Apostles in the book of Acts.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructs His apostles to “baptize … in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” So when many people get baptized, they say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

But when we get into the book of Acts, we see that the apostles baptize “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 8:12; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5).

So what gives? Some suggest that when Jesus says “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” He means “in my name.” Because … you know …. the Trinity.

Of course, God the Father’s name appears to be Yahweh, and as far as we know, the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a name, so is it really accurate to say that “Jesus” is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

Yet if we baptize “in the name of Jesus,” aren’t we then disobeying the very words of Jesus where He instructed us to baptize “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”?

And the debate rages on, with both sides accusing the other of practicing illegitimate baptism.

How can we solve this?

Well, it starts by disavowing all these Christians who waste their time and energy with idiotic arguments over words … but there is also a key to help us solve the argument.

The Key to the Baptism Debate

Baptism is not a translation of the Greek word, but a transliteration.

When people translate from one language to another, they look at the word in the original language, and then provide the equivalent word in the new language. So hamartia gets translated as sin , theos as God, and so on.

But for some inexplicable reason, there are a few Greek words which Bible translators failed to translate. Instead, they transliterated these words, which involves changing the Greek letters of teh root word into English letters and then calling it good.

So Christos becomes Christ and euangelion becomes evangelism.

This is what happened with the word baptism as well. It is a transliteration rather than a translation. The Greek word is baptizma, and it was transliterated as baptism.

How does this help?

Well, if we translate the Greek word baptizma in Matthew 28:19-20, we get a clue as to what Jesus might have actually been teaching … and this leads to the one crazy suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20 that might help solve this particular baptism debate.

The 1 Crazy Suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20

So as everyone knows, Matthew 28:19-20 is the “Great Commission” in which Jesus gives some final instructions to His disciples. And he wants them to take the things He has taught and teach these to other people also.

That is, Jesus wants His disciples to go and make more disciples.

And discipleship involves teaching and training other people about what they should believe and how they should behave. It is teaching people about life and doctrine. And not just “classroom teaching” but teaching by example and showing people how to live.

Anyway, none of this is challenging, new, or crazy. Everyone knows all this.

But here is the crazy suggestion … What if we actually translated the Greek word baptizo in Matthew 28:19 instead of just transliterating it? Is that crazy, or what?

The Greek word baptizma means immersion (the verb baptizo means to immerse).

So if we translated the Greek word, the verse would say this:

Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you …

Jesus instructs His disciples to make disciples and to teach everything He has taught to them, so that the people they teach are immersed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This doesn’t necessarily mean “dunk them under water while saying a few words over their head.”

If I told you to “immerse yourself in this blog,” would you think you had to go take a bath while reading this blog? No. You would think that I was inviting you to read a lot of blog posts for the next days or weeks.

If I told my daughter to “immerse yourself in math” to prepare for the exam, would you imagine that I was telling her to go swim around in a local river with her math books under her arm? No. You would understand that I was telling her to study hard.

If I told my wife, “I want to immerse you in my love,” does this mean that I want to plunge her under the water in a swimming pool while saying “I love you”? No. It means I want to show her in tangible ways how much I really do love her.

Similarly, if Jesus says, “Go immerse people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” is He saying, “Go dunk them under water while saying some words over them”? I think not.

Instead, Jesus is saying, “I have taught you lots of things over these past three years, and I want you to go and teach these to others also. Go immerse them in the teachings about God the Father, about Me, and about the Holy Spirit, which are the things I have taught you. Spread this teaching around the world.”

Jesus is telling His disciples that as they have immersed their lives in His for the past three years, they now must go and invite other people to immerse their lives in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Sooo … You side with those who think we should baptize “in the name of Jesus”?

No! If you think that is the point of this post, you’ve missed it entirely.

There are no magic words. It is not about what words you say.

As long as we Christians keep arguing about words, we are missing the entire point of the teachings of Jesus … and we should go immerse ourselves in His teachings some more.

Look, if you want to get dunked under water, go ahead. For some, it can be a wonderful ritual, full of symbolic significance.

But the real thing Jesus wants us to do is to learn about Him, learn about God, and learn about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants us to follow His example of death and resurrection so that we lay down our lives for others.

Jesus wants to show us how to die to ourselves so that we can rise again to real life in Him.

So let us all stop arguing about the method, mode, and magic words of baptism, and instead start living for Jesus and loving others like Jesus … just as He commanded us in Matthew 28:19-20.

Understanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

Living the Gospel begins with Loving Yourself

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

As you seek to live out the gospel, you think of it as a series of concentric circles with yourself at the center. I am not encouraging a self-centered gospel, but rather a gospel that first transforms the self.

As many have said, a gospel message that doesn’t work at home should not be exported elsewhere.

This is why Jesus told us to take the plank out of our own eye before we help someone else take the speck out of theirs (Matt 7:1-5). Paul said much the same thing when he instructed elders to take care of themselves and their families at home before they thought of leading others (1 Tim 3:2-5).

Living the gospel always begins in your own heart.

What does the gospel do in your heart?

It teaches you to love yourself. It teaches you that you are lovely, that God made you to be uniquely you.

This is what Jesus meant when He said to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). He was saying that before you can love your neighbors as the gospel calls you to do, you must first recognize the gospel truths that you yourself are loved, forgiven, and accepted. Before you seek to live out the gospel among others, make sure the gospel has brought reconciliation and redemption into your own heart and mind.

Once the gospel has touched your own self, it is then that it can begin to emanate out from you in concentric circles toward your family, your friendships, your work, and to the rest of the world.

The first person the gospel touches is yourself.

Every person walks wounded through life. We have scars from childhood, shame from our past, fears about the future, and uncertainty about our worth. We believe lies about how little we are loved. The truth of the gospel is that all is forgiven, there is nothing to fear, we are of inestimable value, and God loves us more than we can ever possibly imagine.

I get emails every week from people all over the world who feel that there is no way God can love them, forgive them, or accept them into His family. In a fit of anger they cursed God. At a rough time in their marriage they committed adultery or got divorced. Even if there is no serious sin in someone’s life, bad things happen to all people, and when these things happen, the tendency of the average human being is to think that God is punishing them for something.

But God does not punish.

The first truth of the gospel is that God loves every person in the world so much, that He would do absolutely anything for each one of us (John 3:16).

The lie of Satan is that God does not love and cannot forgive; the truth of the gospel is that God always loves and only forgives.

Until we begin to understand this, we will never see the beautiful truths of the gospel for what they are, and we will never be able to live within those truths as God desires.

Once we begin to recognize how much we are loved, it is then that God begins to do His greatest work in us. He then begins to show us that each one of us is completely unique, and that these things that make us who we are were given to us by God, not so that we could cover them up and become like everyone else, but so that we could magnify the glory of God by living as only we can live. The glory of God is best reflected in the glory of a life that embraces and celebrates what makes it unique.

Knowing you are loved brings you the freedom to be you

As you begin to understand the gospel, and how much you are loved and forgiven, you will then begin to find the freedom to live in this world as only you can live. You will find the freedom to stop the endless cycle of trying to be someone else, and will discover that God wants you to be you. You will discover that you do not need to be like anyone else, but simply need to be the best you that you can be. God made you to be uniquely you, and He wants you to live fully in the reality of who you are.

As you discover your strengths, abilities, talents, and desires, and as you live fully within those areas, you will be reflecting the glory of God and the gospel to the rest of the world. You most fully reflect the glory of God when you reflect the glory of yourself as God made you to be.

I recently watched the movie, Kung Fu Panda 3 with my daughters. In the movie, the main character, Po, is able to defeat the villain, Kai, by harnessing the secret powers of a village of pandas. What sort of powers did they have? Well, a few were really good at napping. Others loved to roll down hills. Some of the children liked to play hacky sack. One female panda was quite good at ribbon dancing. While these may not seem like powerful or useful skills which can be used to defeat an enemy, Po was able to teach, train, and encourage this village of pandas to be the best they could be at whatever they were good at, and when they all worked together, their skills complimented each other to defeat Kai.

This is how it works in our own lives as well. God made me to be me and you to be you. There are things you are really good at which I can never do, and vice versa. If I try to be you, or you try to be me, neither of us will ever live up to our God-given potential, and we will never be able to help each other in our battle against sin and Satan.

The only way the gospel can advance in this world is if each of us recognizes that we are perfect as God made us to be, and we rejoice and celebrate in the things that make us unique, and then we all work together to advance the cause of the gospel. When we do this, the gates of hell will not prevail against us.

So who has God made you to be?

The gospel calls you to live fully in that reality. If you do not know who God made you to be, the best way to discover this is to return to the knowledge that you are fully loved. And if God loves you, you can love you too.

It is within the safety and security of this knowledge that God begins to blossom and flourish the dreams He has for you and your life.

So begin with the knowledge that you are loved, and then see where God takes you from there.

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!