In our own congregation over the last 16 months, Trinity has experienced several signs of healthy growth:
Attendance at our modern worship service (9:00 am) has experienced a 44% increase over the last 16 months [comparing the four-month period, Oct 2025 – Jan 2026, with the same time span 12 months ago, Oct. 2024 – Jan 2025].
When we factor in the attendance at our classic service (11:00), our church has experienced a 29% overall increase in total worshipping attendance from Oct. 2025 to Jan. 2026 compared to the same timeframe 12-16 months ago.
Moreover, I sense that God is at work more than simply in our rise in attendance. After all, not all church attendance is created equal: not all surges in church attendance in America is “healthy” nor can it be linked simplistically or automatically with “spiritual vibrancy”. Equally important is the health of the body of Christ and the fruit of its members, and in this, also, I am greatly encouraged.
Simply put, our church is seeing:
Pockets of genuine repentance and life change in our midst.
Enthusiastic participation in prayer services (about 1/3 of our worshipping congregation recently attended one of the three times of prayer in early January). For American churches, the prayer service often represents “the most boring” type of service. I firmly believe that the body of Christ at Trinity is growing in prayer. Hallelujah!
Increased hunger for community and Life Groups with people increasingly warming to the idea of being spiritually formed by the simple rhythms of grace – worship, prayer, scripture, relationship – all focused on Jesus.
Greater enthusiasm for relational outreach in inviting people to participate in the community of faith.
New believers and people coming back to the Christian faith after a season of dormancy in wanting to get plugged into the life of faith, read scripture together, inquire of baptisms, and generally become re-engaged with Jesus.
The question is – is Trinity part of a national trend or are we experiencing something more localized? Simply put: Is America in Revival?
I, for one, would love to be leading a church where the cultural zeitgeist of the era seemingly paves the way for a massive and authentic influx of people into the church. This would be fruit-picking time for church leaders! I have a friend in Ethiopia who is training and equipping young Ethiopian leaders 22-25 years old to pastor churches of 2,000 to 5,000 people all around the country as the culture has decidedly tilted towards Christianity. The same phenomenon has amazingly occurred in various sub-Saharan African regions over the last 40 years. If this were to happen in America, it would mark the realization of many prayers and hopes for the American church, a kind of Third Great Awakening since the First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) happened before the signing of the Declaration of Independence while the Second Great Awakening (1790s-1840s) occurred before the Civil War.
Recently, I’ve encountered at least three national voices that have been encouraging church leaders to “pump the brakes” with the Revival Talk. Why is that the case?
First, the level of Christian identity has been steadily declining over the last 25 years, from 83% to 71%, according to David Kinnaman of the Barna Group. (You can listen to Kinnaman’s interview podcast with Carey Nieuwhof here.) Kinnaman and Nieuwhof cautioned church leaders on the recent national headlines about the possibility of revival amongst Gen Z, beginning with the Asbury Revival of Feb. 2023, due to the overall framework of institutional church decline.
The framework consists of this: (1) people who identity as Christians are decreasing (83% to 71% over last 25 years, (2) the average size church in America is decreasing (the median church size which was 137 people in 2000 has dropped to 60-65 people today, which means that over the last 25 years, the average church size in America has been more than cut in half), and (3) overall church membership is decreasing as well as the number of times/month that people typically attend a church even if they are a member.
Working with another set of data, the Religious Landscape Study (RLS), indicated a 15% decline of US adults who identity as Christian from 78% (in 2007) to 63% (in 2024) though there has been a stabilization of the decline over the last 5 years. To put this decline in perspective, 15% of the US population (of 330-340 million) equates to nearly 49.5 to 52 million people who no longer identity as Christian. This decline represents a massive down-turn of Christian identity in America over the last two decades!
Second, Ryan Burge’s article entitled “Perspective: What the data really says about religious revival and Gen Z: the reversal of a trend would require a transformation unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times” also serves to pump the brakes on the hopeful optimism for revival in America. Burge argues that the narrative of a massive return to church is not born out by actual statistics:
“It seems that a large segment of the American public is eager for any sign that the rise of the nones is over and that churches might begin to fill back up in the years to come…. As the share of adults with no religious affiliation climbed from just 6% in 1991 to nearly 30% in 2020, it would certainly make headlines if that march toward secularism suddenly stopped — and even more so if the ones leading a return to church were teens and 20-somethings.”
Burge argues that anecdotal narratives have often replaced actual statistics amongst mainstream media outlets.
Burge makes much of the idea of “generational replacement”, arguing that “every day, older Americans die and are replaced by young adults turning 18. This process unfolds slowly — almost imperceptibly — in the short term, but over five or 10 years, it can produce profound shifts in the overall landscape.” Burge is making a case which is pretty easy to understand: older adult Christians are dying and are not being replaced in the church at the same rate as those entering adulthood at age 18.
When you compare generations, the pattern is obvious. The youngest members of the Silent Generation were born in the early 1940s, and just 7% report no religious affiliation. In less than a decade, they — and a growing share of Baby Boomers (18% unaffiliated) — will disappear from survey samples.
Meanwhile, millennials are moving solidly into middle age, and 36% of them say they have no religion. Generation Z, all of whom will soon be adults, are even less religious: 43% are nones. That’s 25 points higher than the Boomers they’re replacing. So if the overall share of nones sits around 28% now, it will inevitably rise as generational turnover continues.
Third, Burge argues that even singular cultural events have not typically sustained any measurable rise in religious attendance in the United States over the last quarter century. Many remember the churches filling up after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 only to quickly return to normal. “Likewise, the Asbury University revival of February 2023 received wall-to-wall media coverage, but follow-up reporting showed no lasting change in local religiosity a year later.”
Thus, whereas talk of a full-scale “revival in America” seem to be overblown, there are nonetheless some encouraging signs amidst the overall institutional decline of the church in America:
48% of Gen Zers and 44% of Millennials recently responded “Yes” to the idea: “I am open to Jesus, but do not consider myself a Christian today.” There seems to be a general openness to authentic ways of living for, and talking about, the way of Jesus amongst the younger generations.
Bible sales were up 11% in 2025 compared to 2024.
Reversing a decades-long trend, men (45%) are now significantly outpacing women (36%) in church attendance with married fathers taking the lead in going to church. Whether this is a net positive (where did all the women go?) over the long-haul remains to be seen, but the hope would be that as fathers take the lead in church attendance, the entire family might follow dad to church in the future.
The Rise of the Nones. Institutional church decline. Declining church attendance. None of these phrases sound overly hopeful for the future of the church in America. Yet these statistics themselves need to be set within the God-centered universe that the scriptures declare is our reality. Two scriptural phrases come to mind which help put these gloomy statistics in their proper place.
“But God.” Ephesians 2 begins with terrible news: we were dead in our trespasses and sins (vs. 1). We were walking under the influence of the world and following the power of the devil (vs. 2), simply living for the passions of our flesh (vs. 3). No dystopian movie ever produced could give a bleaker, blacker, and more dismal view of our situation than when Paul says that we “were by nature children of wrath” (vs. 3). That’s personally cataclysmic on an eternal scale! But then Paul reaches for the great phrase – BUT GOD.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5.
Church trends are nothing compared to the great “But God” of his saving power.
The second scriptural phrase that seems apropos to remember in this cultural moment occurs in Matthew 19. The disciples are incredulous at Jesus. The bar of salvation seems too high to climb for the disciples. The disciples were “astonished” and began saying, “Who then can be saved?” (vs. 25). Jesus was telling his disciples, “Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (vs. 24). Within the worldview of first-century Judaism, great wealth was often simplistically equated with great spiritual blessings from God. If the wealthy were only saved – with enormous difficulty – what hope was there for everyone else? That’s when Jesus reminded his disciples of the Lord’s great power to save: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (vs. 26). Yes, there it is! With God all things are possible.
No matter how dark the culture or how toxic the politics or how declining the church, believers would be wise to remember: With God all things are possible. The possibility of revival is always over the next hill and horizon. God is always free to move with great saving power, bringing his beloved children into his church.
Jesus Christ is, after all, the Head of the Church. I trust that the Great Shepherd of the Sheep (Heb. 13:20) will always pastor us with grace and love whatever season the church is in: whether in retreat or advance, whether in revival or decline. God is still on the throne, whatever the trends say and whatever the culture decries.
With God all things are possible.
Soli Deo Gloria.
In our era, “evangelical” has become a highly contested word, often associated with political movements in our nation and world. For years, I have reminded our congregation that “We are not a red church. We are not a blue church. We are a Jesus church” because we long to “keep the main thing, the main thing”. As a church family, we desire to be spiritually formed by the simple rhythms of grace – worship, prayer, scripture, community – all focused on Jesus.
Over the last 15 years, many evangelicals have given up on the term “evangelical”, viewing the word as severely compromised by the toxic political divisions in our country. Indeed, many people outside the church view the word as simply another moniker for a certain voting bloc or aligned with a specific demographic politically. They rarely realize the word has a long religious history.
Despite the recent attempt to colonize the word from the religious realm to the political sphere for its own ends, the word “evangelical” has a longer history than America’s recent political divisions. The word evangelical goes back 2,000 years to the New Testament Greek word euaggelion which is translated “gospel” or “good news”, appearing most prominently in the key thesis verses of Paul’s book of Romans:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel (euaggelion) for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17
During the Reformation era, it was Martin Luther who sought to recover the gospel (euaggelion) and the righteousness of Christ that is ours through faith. The Protestant Reformation represented a vibrant spiritual recovery of the gospel of Jesus and what it meant to be an “evangelical Christian” – a believer who personally trusts in the gospel of Christ alone for salvation.
The 95 Theses of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther called Christians back to the simple biblical gospel.
During the 20th century, an evangelical in America eventually came to be distinguished from fundamentalist Christians during the 1940s and 1950s. Whereas fundamentalists became increasingly separatist, anti-intellectual, and often legalistic vis-à-vis the modern cultural era, evangelicals sought an intelligent cultural engagement while keeping its grounding in the gospel of Jesus, in the inerrancy of scriptures, and in the substitutionary atonement. In the 1980s and 1990s, evangelical Christians left behind some of the “narrowness” and “legalism” of its fundamentalist forebearers through making major strides in scholarship by the writing of biblical commentaries, by setting up major seminaries for an emerging generation of leaders (i.e. Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), and by becoming missiological thought leaders through major conferences like the Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization in 1974 organized by evangelical leaders like Billy Graham and the British theologian and churchman John Stott.
American evangelist Billy Graham and British theologian John Stott were central leaders of the Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization, held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974.
Therefore, when I utilize the word “evangelical”, I have three horizons in mind, none of which have to do with American political ideology. The first horizon is biblical – I use the word “evangelical” to describe a person whose affections have been captured by “the gospel” of Jesus. Simply put, an evangelical strongly believes in the simple biblical gospel to radically transform lives. The second horizon is historical – an evangelical is a person who is buttressed by the robust theological tradition of the Protestant Reformation and its five solas: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as revealed by the scriptures alone. Though many 21st century evangelicals are increasingly abandoning this rich theological heritage in favor of a non-theological and rather vanilla and shallow emotionalism based on the categories of self-help and pop-psychology, my own understanding of evangelicalism is anchored by names like Luther and John Calvin, with a historical thread continuing through the English Puritans John Owen and Richard Baxter, and sprinkled with intrepid names like the American theologian Jonathan Edwards and British preachers Charles Haddon Spurgeon (aka “The Prince of Preachers” -19th century) and Martin Lloyd Jones of Westminster Chapel (20th century) culminating in the post-WW2 evangelistic crusades of Billy Graham. Historically, modern evangelicalism boasts a robust preaching tradition which combines intellectual rigor with an evangelistic heart. The third horizon is cultural – evangelicals have often been unafraid to tackle the societal challenges for faith arising in the modern and postmodern eras, whether the rise of science, the challenge of poverty, the problem of abortion, and the question of marriage. This unafraid cultural stance, epitomized by William Wilberforce who successfully campaigned the British Parliament to put an end to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, drives the modern evangelical impulse. A culturally winsome evangelical longs for the Christ-centered renewal of all things both at home (homelessness, prison ministry) and abroad through its global missionary efforts (unreached people groups, church planting, majority world theological institutions).
The British evangelical Christian, William Wilberforce, courageously and tirelessly campaigned against the Transatlantic Slave Trade, with the British Parliament passing the Slave Trade Act on March 25, 1807.
One of the most famous definitions of the modern evangelical movement is described in the so-called “Bebbington quadrilateral”, proposed by historian David Bebbeington in his 1989 book Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s, where he argues for four distinguishing characteristics of evangelicalism:
(1) Biblicism – a high view of the Bible as the Word of God and the ultimate authority in faith and life.
(2) Crucicentrism - a central focus on the atoning substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
(3) Conversionism – the belief that men, women, and children all need to be spiritually transformed through being “born again” through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
(4) Activism – believers inherently express their gospel convictions through personal efforts in evangelism, missions, and societal reform.
What does this all mean? Evangelicalism, when it fully embraces its healthiest forms and expressions, can unabashedly drive forward the gospel of Jesus Christ in this broken world by being thoroughly committed to a high view of the scriptures through a laser-like focus on the cross of Christ in being unapologetic in calling all people to a personal relationship with Jesus while simultaneously working tirelessly and courageously for cultural renewal and the missionary enterprise in furthering the Kingdom of God.
On our best day as a church, we long to be biblically, historically, and culturally “evangelical” in the best sense of the word: committed to the gospel, committed to a high view of the transformative Word of God, committed to the simple message of the cross of Jesus that saves sinners, and committed to a winsome cultural engagement and to strategic missionary activity in all the world.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. — Philippians 2:12-13
Over the years, many Christians have cited Philippians 2:12-13 -- “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” – to make the argument that “Oh yes, here is where the apostle Paul diminishes divine sovereignty in favor of human responsibility in our salvation. You do your part, God does his part.”
Given all that we know about the apostle Paul’s theology, that interpretation would be a surprising departure from the rest of his theology. Is there human responsibility before God? Yes. We are all responsible for our sin!
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Rom 3:10b-12)
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil". (2 Cor 5:10)
Therefore, here are 10 distinct reasons why “you do your part, God does his part” as you earn your own salvation is a misinterpretation of Pauline theology in general and Philippians 2:12-13 in particular.
Reason #1: Paul is not saying: “Work toward your salvation.” Or, “Work for your salvation.” Paul is encouraging you: Work out your salvation. That is a huge difference! Paul is talking about the process of sanctification – of growing in grace & holiness — not a matter of justification whereby you might earn your salvation by working for it.
Reason #2: Paul is not of two minds. Only a few verses earlier, Paul clearly and unequivocally writes: “This is a clear sign…of your salvation, and that from God.” (Phil. 1:28)
Reason #3: Paul is consistent throughout the epistle to the Philippians: In chapter 3, Paul denies any possibility of earning righteousness by working and obeying the law. Paul declares: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Phil 3:9)
Reason #4: Faith is a gift of God. Paul admonishes the Ephesian Christians: do not even make your faith a “work”. Paul calls faith a gift given to you by God: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9).
Reason #5: Paul is in agreement with the prophet Jonah: “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9). I trust the witness of anyone who miraculously gets vomited out of a fish by a sovereign God!
Reason #6: Paul is in agreement the apostle John: John describes children of God “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”( John 1:13)
Reason #7: Paul is consistent throughout his theology. Paul writes his younger protégé Timothy about the God “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9).
Reason #8: A dead person cannot “choose” anything, let alone God. A person in a casket no longer has any “choice” left in life. This is our condition apart from the saving act of God in regeneration. As Paul says, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Eph 2:1)
Reason #9: Obedience is the Pauline call to the Philippian believers directly after the Christ hymn (“my beloved, as you have always obeyed…,” Phil 2:12). Paul is saying; “Embrace Christ’s pattern of life based on his example in the Christ hymn (Phil 2:6-11). Don’t merely be spectators of Christ’s humble obedience, walk it out in your own life. Thus, “obedience” fits into the overall Pauline meaning of the passage, like he admonished the Philippians earlier: “Walk in a manner worthy of Christ (1:27). Paul is not suddenly talking about working “for” your salvation in Philippians 2:12-13. The imperative is “work out” your salvation by simple and humble obedience to Christ who Paul has set before them.
After admonishing the believers to walk in a manner worthy of Christ, it surely would be jarring if Paul suddenly decided to thrust them back on themselves in a way that would produce pride that they, in fact, are the ones working “for” their salvation.
Reason #10: God gets all the glory in your salvation. Not you. Paul admits no boasting before God in your salvation. DeYoung writes: “If we contribute or cooperate in any way in our regeneration, then we can be proud of contributing some small part to our salvation, of which Paul says, ‘But far be it from be to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’” (Gal. 6:14)
So here is how not to interpret Phil 2:12-13:
“Oh, the apostle of the free grace of God suddenly is retracting his gospel that God justifies by grace through faith and now is talking about your contribution in working for your salvation. Paul even adds “with fear and trembling” because he wants to make salvation a point of ‘nervous insecurity’ in your life. Indeed, you now ride on the spiritual roller coaster of emotions because your Christian life (after joyously coming to Christ) is ALL UP TO YOU: self-satisfaction with yourself when “you get it right” and self-condemnation when you “get it wrong”. I guess this is just the Christian life.”(1)
Better to “Fall on Grace” and “Fall on Humility” because Philippians 2:13 literally reads: “For God is the working one.” God promises to work powerfully in your life by faith, by the Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, and by the fellowship of believers. For God is the working one! This is such good news!
God does not stand back and say: “Hey pal, The Cross! The Resurrection! I’ve done my part. What more do you want? Now it’s up to you!” That is not God’s heart, and that is not the biblical vision of the Christian life. God is always the working one in our initial salvation and throughout our lives in our sanctification.
*****
“The work of God in regeneration is monergistic (by the one working) not synergistic (by a work of cooperation). That is to say, regeneration is God’s work and his alone. Being dead in our sins and trespasses, we are passive, helpless, acted upon in the new birth, rather than working jointly with God. The Reformed confessions all reject the synergism of the [Roman Catholic] Council of Trent whereby the will is said to be “excited and assisted” by divine grace…We are not mostly dead; we are all the way dead.
Given the monergistic nature of the new birth, we must also conclude that regeneration precedes faith. We don’t believe unto new life; we are given new life that we may believe….In the miracle of regeneration, we bring nothing and do nothing. That’s why Paul likens regeneration to a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and to a resurrection (Col. 2:12).”
– Kevin DeYoung, Daily Doctrine
(1) Paraphrase by Jason Carter & Dennis Johnson in Philippians: Reformed Expository Commentary.
Apologetics is having a cultural moment.
Apologetics is a reasoned defense of the Christian faith, derived from the Greek word apologia, meaning a “formal defense or reply”. Apologists provide rational and evidence-based objections to various objections against Christianity — such as the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, the problem of evil, and the resurrection of Jesus.
Twenty-first century apologists have found a comfortable niche on media platforms like Youtube and are even making the rounds of uber-popular secular podcasts. Conversations about the origins of the universe, the reliability of the Bible, and the ultimate meaning of life seem to be back in the consciousness of mainstream western culture.
#1: Wes Huff
Wes Huff
Wes Huff (left) has appeared on the #1 Podcast in the World (The Joe Rogan Experience).
Wes Huff is a Canadian biblical scholar and vice-president of Apologetics Canada and has been featured on The Joe Rogan Experience (The #1 Podcast in the world) and featured on The Diary of a CEO.
Wes Huff has appeared on the popular “Diary of a CEO” podcast with Steven Bartlett. You can listen here.
On the Wes Huff website, he has a series of excellent videos entitled “Can I Trust the Bible”?
Episode #1: The Right Books
Episode #2: The Right Text
Plus Q & A Videos about the Bible
Wes Huff appears with John Lovell in a program entitled “Top 7 Atheist Arguments Debunked”. For the last 30 minutes, Wes Huff provides succinct answers to some of the biggest objections to Christianity in a very helpful way (best to begin at the 31 minute mark).
#2: William Lane Craig @ Reasonable Faith
The Fine Tuning of the Universe by William Lane Craig’s “Reasonable Faith” ministry is a succinct, pithy, and convincing argument for theism. The Fine Tuning argument is often conceded by atheist-scientists as one of the more difficult theistic arguments to counter.
William Lane Craig is widely regarded as as one of the premier philosopher-apologists of our era.
#3 Gavin Ortlund @ Truth Unites
Gavin Ortlund is a Christian apologist from a Reformed Baptist background with a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary. Ortlund runs a very popular Youtube channel called Truth Unites. He is engaging, intellectually honest, and comes from a Reformed-Evangelical perspective. Here are some videos and podcasts that I’ve watched or listened to and some that I want to engage with in the future.
Gavin Ortlund
Gavin Ortlund has a podcast and Youtube channel dedicated to apologetics as well as engaging with biblical, theological, and church history topics.
Top 9 Apologetic Videos:
#1 Does Music Prove God? (Theism Explains Music Better)
#2 Episode #116: The Moral Argument: Why Good Suggests God
#3 Episode #181: The Moral Argument Still Works: Response to Recent Critiques
#4 Episode #238: The Ontological Argument is Sound!
#5 Episode #273: Fine-Tuning is Simply a Good Argument
#6 Episode #315: Can Math Prove God? The Argument from Eternal Truths
#7 Episode ##328: Stop Abandoning the Moral Argument (Do This Instead)
#9 Episode #327: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? Evaluating the Historical Evidence
4 Interesting Videos on Issues in the Book of Genesis:
#1 Episode #62: William Lane Craig Defends His View on the Historical Adam
#2 Episode #227: Was Noah’s Flood Local?
#3 Episode #256: Were Adam and Eve Historical People?
#4 Episode #439: 7 Reasons the Nephilim Were Angelic
2 Interesting Videos On Biblical Themes:
Gavin Ortlund’s Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t was one of the best books that I read in 2025.
In “Why God Makes Sense”, Ortlund sets up his apologetic shop at the intersection of beauty and truth:
“Beauty is a powerful tool for cutting through disenchantment and apathy because it has a kind of persuasive power that reaches down to the heart.” (pp. 7)
Ortlund’s book taps into the longing for beauty inside every human heart. Ortlund describes the truth of Christianity so richly and beautifully that people, even outside the faith, might say: “I want this to be true. I ache for this to be true, because this Christian vision of a life with God is so beautiful and compelling.” This is an apologetic that provides a rich invitation to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
To listen to the March 29, 2026 sermon entitled “Per Cruce Ad Lucem - Through the Cross to the Light”, click here.
“Suffering is not evidence of God’s absence, but of God’s presence, and it is in our experience of being broken that God does his surest and most characteristic salvation work. There is a way to accept, embrace, and deal with suffering that results in a better life, not a worse one, and more of the experience of God, not less. God is working out his salvation in our lives the way he has always worked it out—at the place of brokenness, at the cross of Jesus, and at the very place where we take up our cross.”
– Eugene Peterson, Embracing Brokenness
Per Crucem Ad Lucem is a Medieval Latin phrase meaning “Through the cross to the light”. During the middle ages, it was a Christian axiom signifying that suffering, sacrifice, or hardship (the cross) leads to redemption, godliness, enlightenment, and spiritual joy (the light). Per Crucem Ad Lucem represents the spiritual journey and pilgrimage from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
In Philippians 1:29, Paul writes: “ For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” Paul frequently addresses the theme of suffering in his letters.
In our suffering, we often reach for the hardest and most unanswerable question of them all: WHY? “Why is God doing this? Why is this happening in my life?” Quite frankly, you can get lost in the “Why Question”. You can descend down this rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland, never to emerge again!
Over the years, I have come to believe that the better question is not “Why?” but “What?” “What is God doing?”
[Of course, the best response to trials and sufferings is simply to put one faithful foot of obedience in front of the other. Honestly, you often only know “The What?” of suffering after the trial ends — and even that is still often hidden from you. (Sometimes, no question — however cleverly or carefully worded — seems capable of bearing the full weight of the chaos and disappointments of living in this fallen, broken world.)]
In 2006, John Piper wrote a blog post, which eventually became a book, entitled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”. If beauty and benefit can emerge from trial and suffering, like the medieval axiom suggests, what are those benefits of light that God may shine into our lives? What do we find in Paul (and a few other places) about the WHAT of suffering?
I believe it is wise to ask: “What is God — typically — up to in our suffering and trials?” “What does the Bible say?” “What does the apostle Paul say?” If the Bible tells you WHAT God is (typically) doing in suffering and trials, we would be wise to pay attention.
Benefit #1: In our suffering, grace is experienced as sufficient (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)
Benefit #2: You experience the strengthening of Christ in your sufferings (Phil 4:12-13).
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:12-13)
Benefit #3: You recognize, in suffering, that the Weight of Glory in Heaven towers infinitely high above any earthly suffering because you begin to anticipate release and freedom from the brokenness of this life rather than making this earth your home (Rom 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17-18).
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17-18)
Benefit #4: The Gospel is adorned and goes forth in power precisely in our sufferings.
But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me [namely his imprisonment in Rome] have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel (Phil 1:12)
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church (Col. 1:24; see also 2 Cor. 6:4-7)
Benefit #5: You are conformed to the person of Jesus Christ in your sufferings and made ready for the Kingdom of God.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom 8:16-17)
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Phil 3:10)
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22. see also 2 Thess 1:5)
Benefit #6: You learn obedience through hardship and suffering by continuing to walk in simple obedience.
though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Heb 5:8)
Benefit #7: Your inner man (your heart and your guts) is being renewed each day by the Living God in strength, in faith, and in godliness.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2 Cor. 4:16)
“Do you want to be holy? Then you will suffer.” – John Stott
“I am certain that I never did grow in grace one half so much anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was a Reformed Baptist preacher who pastored Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years; often referred to as “The Prince of Preachers”.
Benefit #8: You experience Christ as your most treasured possession (when there is no where else to turn).
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Phil 3:8)
“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.” – Corrie Ten Boom
Benefit #9: Suffering produces patience and an ability to wait on the Lord and his perfect timing.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2-3)
Benefit #10: You may learn to pray to God (a great gift!) in your sufferings (and perhaps we only really learn to pray in our helplessness).
In trials, you let your requests be known to God rather than living in anxiety (Phil 4:6). Requests to God, arising from our afflictions, are to be brought to God with thanksgiving: “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
“Trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.” – J.C. Ryle
John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) was an English Evangelical Anglican clergyman best known for his book entitled Holiness (1879).
Benefit #11: You learn to be content in all circumstances (Phil 4:11-12).
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Phil 4:11-12, NIV).
Benefit #12: You experience the “beatitude blessing of Jesus” in persecution.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12; see also 2 Timothy 3:10-12)
To listen to the March 29, 2026 sermon entitled “Per Crucem Ad Lucem - Through the Cross to the Light” click here.
“The darker the night, the brighter the stars; the deeper the grief, the closer is God!”
