Greater Freedom

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer for the Bound Up

     Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:43–44 

    Dear Lord Jesus, as surely as you spoke and Lazarus walked out of his tomb fully alive, so when you spoke the gospel to my heart, I too was raised from the dead and was made fully alive in you! With all of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I have passed from death to life. For the sovereign grace and the resurrection power of the gospel, I praise you today. Indeed, salvation is of the Lord!
    Yet as surely as Lazarus needed to be freed from his graveclothes, so do I. The smell and signs of death still haunt me and stalk me. There are many areas of my life for which I long for greater freedom—a freedom you alone can give.
     Jesus, I want greater freedom from living for people’s approval. I want your glory to be my consuming good. I want to be able to respond to trying situations and people with grace and wisdom rather than reacting with irritation and fear. I want freedom to value and see in others what you value and see in them. I want to be quicker to pray and slower to worry; quicker to repent, slower to make excuses; quicker to encourage, slower to criticize.
     I want indifference to be replaced with good listening and passivity to be replaced with passion. I want to be free from the toxic shame that often paralyzes my heart. I want to know what stuff from my past still needs to be dealt with and what stuff simply needs to be left till the day of final resurrection. I want to be much bolder in sharing the gospel and much slower to share gossip.
     I want to be able to sit still longer and laugh louder. I want to age grace-fully, not regret-fully. I want to stay more fully alive to the only love that will never let me go—your love, Lord Jesus, the only love that is better than life. You’ve made us alive in you, Jesus; make us much, much freer, all for your glory. I pray in your priceless name. Amen.

Theologically Sound - Practically Helpful

It is a long post (video), but it is good.

DG post:  John Piper Interviews Rick Warren on Doctrine

This 98 minute interview that I did with Rick Warren was recorded on May 1, 2011, during the Desiring God Regional Conference at Saddleback Church. It's the fulfillment of a commitment we made when Rick was not able to come in person to the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis in October, 2010.

The nature of the interview is mainly doctrinal. I read Rick’s The Purpose Driven Life with great care. I brought 20 pages of quotes and questions to the interview. You will hear me quote the book dozens of times. With these quotes as a starting point I dig into Rick’s mind and heart on all the issues listed below (with the times that they begin on the video).

My aim in this interview is to bring out and clarify what Rick Warren believes about these biblical doctrines. In doing this my hope is that the thousands of pastors and lay people who look to Rick for inspiration and wisdom will see the profound place that doctrine has in his mind and heart.

Rick is not known for being a doctrinal preacher. One reason for this is his intention to be theologically sound and practically helpful without using doctrinal or theological terms in his public ministry. Inside of Saddleback there is a greater intentionality about building biblical and theological categories into the people’s minds and hearts.

Near the end of the interview, with great respect and appreciation for the stewardship of influence that Rick carries, I exhort him and pray for him that God will make the final chapter of his ministry a deepening one, that leaves a legacy of biblical and doctrinal truth more explicitly and firmly in the minds and hearts of the generations that will follow him.

Rick and I are very different in methodological instincts and inclinations. I take almost the exact opposite approach in preaching—wanting to make the theological categories explicit and to show how I got them from the text. But then I am not even close to the fruitful evangelist that Rick is.

We both have chosen risky ways. There are pitfalls of short- and long-term unfruitfulness. But in the end we do not govern the impact of our lives. God does. We do what the Bible and our hearts call us to do. I believe Rick’s is a faithful heart. Listen to the clarity of his doctrinal commitments and hear the heartbeat of his love for Christ and those perishing without him.

Let this remarkable testimony of faith send you down into the Word of God for a deeper understanding of God and his ways. Here are the topics we tackle and when they begin on the video.

Introduction
3:29  The glory of God.
7:16  David Wells and the weight of God’s reality.
9:00  Would you write the book the same today?
12:00 The sovereignty of God.
18:47 How do you speak of God’s sovereignty in the presence of tragedy?
22:01 How do all things work for bad for those who reject Christ?
24:14 Do you hedge on Larry King?
27:00 Unconditional election.
30:18 The importance of eternity.
34:42 How do you conceive of eternity: in heaven, on earth?
38:53 What is the Gospel?
42:00 What did Jesus achieve on the cross?
43:40 Repentance.
50:50 Why don’t you call yourself a Calvinist?
53:09 Propitiation.
54:39 Prevenient grace.
1:00:01 Total depravity.
1:03:00 Hell.
1:09:10 Eternal destiny of those who never heard.
1:12:40 The extent of the atonement.
1:17:00 Do unbelievers always do the devil’s bidding?
1:18:40 Your view of the Bible.
1:22:40 Expository preaching and doctrinal depth.
1:28:10 Rick Warren’s sacred trust.

It's About Both

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Gabe Lyons and the Next Christians

While in Manhattan this week, Gabe Lyons invited me to breakfast and to spend some time getting to know one another. With my six-year-old in tow, we sat down and talked gospel, mission, church and kids. I asked him a few questions and he agreed to come by the blog and interact.

Gabe Lyons is the co-founder of Catalyst, and the co-author of UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters. He has been featured by CNN, The New York Times, Newsweek, and USA Today on issues revolving around the state of the church and what's next for the younger generation of Christians to follow. His newest book, The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America, is out tomorrow but I wanted to give you an early look here. This will be an important book in the conversation about the role of the church and Christians in society.

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You describe a missing element of the Christian faith that "the Next Christians" have discovered, what is that?

Instead of discovering something new, they've actually recovered a key understanding of the Gospel that has largely gone missing in many parts of Christian teaching and doctrine in the last century--the idea of "restoration." They believe that part of their responsibility in following Jesus is to lead lives that are prioritized around restoring broken people, systems, schools, neighborhoods, marriages and a variety of other things to reflect God's original intention for his creation. They emphasize seeing the image of God in every person they encounter, even if that person wouldn't acknowledge it. They don't only care about social good, but see that as part of a holistic faith that naturally opens the door to much deeper conversations with their friends about the meaning of life, who we are as human beings and what God's best is for his creations.

One of the things that people get concerned about when you start talking about the metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption, restoration - is that we're going to lose the gospel in some way. Can you unpack the gospel for our readers?

I think we have to be clear when we're talking about the metanarrative to never lose sight of what the real good news is here: that Christ's death on the cross, His payment for our sins, His resurrection - that's the genesis of the Good News. The metanarrative is what helps make that story more coherent, though. When we only talk about the fact that somebody's a sinner, that they're fallen, and we start the story there, and that through Christ they can get redemption -- and then oh, by the way, your role is to get as many people to make that decision so you can all spend the afterlife together -- it's not a very coherent story in a post-Christian setting where you have pretty intellectual people who are pretty thoughtful and well-read, and they're just not buying into something that sounds a bit fantastical. And it's not that none of that is true. It's actually all true. But it becomes way more coherent when you start the story understanding that every human being is made in the image of God and that the fall corrupted that, and that once we're redeemed through Christ we have the opportunity to help people understand that story and understand what restoration looks like in their relationship with God, their Creator, and also in relationship to the world and the work that God wants to do through the Holy Spirit's power to constantly be reconciling all things to Him in this world.

Tell us about the Chuck Colson connection of your idea of restoration.

In 1999, I read Chuck Colson's book How Now Shall We Live, and I came across a sentence that he and Nancy Pearcey had in there that basically said, "Christians are called to redeem entire cultures, not just individuals." I had grown up in a Christian home and a Christian church, and never heard that sentence put together like that -- that Christians actually have a responsibility in the world, that this is part of our calling, it's part of our human job description, so to speak. And that it's a both-and approach. It's not just about conversion, it's not just about good deeds. It's about both, and if we could recover that in our generation, it would be amazing what was possible, if a younger generation understood how those two things should be held in tension, and what that might look like in a world that's changing.

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You mentioned that as people, part of our job is to engage in restoration. When we talk about mission of the church - some are concerned about mission drift - what is the primary mission of the church and what flows out of that?

The mission of the church, I think, is clear that it's to equip the saints. It's to be a place where Christians come together in terms of the meetings and the assembly of the body to be trained up, to be discipled, to be equipped, to know how to go out and do mission all the time. So additionally, the church is the connected body of Christ, working together in unison to reveal to the world who God is through the life that they're embodying. But ultimately I think the great shift is that pastoral leadership is going to have to get really good at knowing how to come alongside the people in their congregation and help them understand how the implications of the gospel play out in their vocation, in their setting - whether they're a professor, a business leader, an entrepreneur. I think that is the next phase, and that's what we're trying to do with Q.

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Engergizing Presence

Ray Ortlund post:  Every race is runnable

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.  Hebrews 12:1-2

The amazing believers of the past — their lives make this undeniable statement: Every race is runnable.

We think, “My life is more than I can bear.  God is asking too much of me.  I’ve grown and changed and repented all I can.  So, I’ll settle down.  I’ll manage a church-going status quo.  I’ll even call it ‘faithfulness.’”  But that isn’t faithfulness.  Not as Hebrews 11 defines living by faith.  Not by a mile.

If we are feeling weighed down and exhausted, the problem isn’t Jesus.  He is unfailingly an energizing presence.  Nor is the problem the race he has called us to run.  The problem is something else, even something non-sinful and allowable, but it prevents us from running an unleashed, all-out race.  Getting clean rid of it, because our hearts are reaching for the promises of God — that is living by faith.

Living that way, we’ll be surprised at how near the Lord is and how much we can keep growing.  Life will become an adventure again.

Sleep Wallking

Don Sweeting post:  Waking Up:  Worship and Justice in a Messed-Up World

I have a friend who sleep walks. Some nights he actually gets out of bed, walks down stairs, goes into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, eats a snack and then goes back to bed. But he doesn’t remember a thing in the morning. I’ve since heard of people doing all kinds of strange things in their sleep—sleep calling, sleep texting, sleep driving.  I heard about one person who even sleep walked into a shower pajamas and all, and then turned the water on. At that point he woke up!

Unfortunately, many of us go through life asleep. We are asleep to the people around us. Asleep to the needs of the world and most of all, asleep to God.

In his book The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice, Mark Labberton writes, “Worship is what happens when people wake up!” It is a “dangerous act of waking up to God and to the purposes of God in the world, and then living lives that actually show it,” he says.

The problem is, we are so absorbed in our own busy lives, our own local lives, our own inner lives, or even our own ministry lives, that we are sleep walking. Sometimes we sleep walk right into church oblivious to the most important realities of life.

Sometimes those who plan our worship are sleepy. The prayers are self centered. Song texts are all focused on personal concerns. The preaching avoids the issues that concerned the prophets. Our services are safe and predictable. The only time we get aroused is over small stuff, such as music styles or carpet color, not the bug stuff, like justice, mercy, and the weightiness of God.

When a church is asleep it enters worship with a forgetfulness about the lostness of the lost and the brokenness of the broken. It loses touch with the fact that we live in 911 world. Even today, the world is in a state of emergency racked with tremendous suffering and pain.  As we gather today, one-sixth of the world lives in absolute poverty. Each year nearly 1 million children are sold or forced into the sex traffic trade. This house thousands will die from starvation. Hundreds from malaria, malnutrition, genocide, and HIV/AIDS. Some time ago I read that in the last hour 2,738 people died from starvation, 342 people died from malaria, 76 mothers died from childbirth issues, 9,582 babies died from induced abortion, 8,898 infants and children were abandoned, and 20 Christians were martyred.

Worship should wake us up to the reality of a just and holy God who will judge the world in righteousness. Yet he is also the God who hears the cries of the needy.

Worship should remind us of the realities of a broken world, while at the same time showing us the character of the one true God. It should remind us that he heals the brokenhearted, forgives the truly penitent, and specializes in putting broken pieces back together again in Christ.

Worship should be like that guy who went sleep walking right into the shower. When the water turned on, he woke up!

Awake worship brings us to our senses. It can’t ignore the needs of this world. Neither can it ignore the gospel, because Christ is the hope of the world. Gospel hope is broad and deep. It addresses both the needs of my life and the groaning of creation.

Awake worship doesn’t send us away comfortably the same. It transforms us. It sends us away changed. Awake worship reminds us to “learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Is. 1:17-18). Then it dismisses us with the call, not just to speak good news, but to be good news to those around us.

Patriotism and the Church

Kevin DeYoung post:  Thinking Theologically About Memorial Day

This is post probably has something to make everyone unhappy. But here goes.
With Memorial Day on Monday (in the U.S.) and, no doubt, a number of patriotic services scheduled for this Sunday, I want to offer a few theses on patriotism and the church. Each of these points could be substantially expanded and beg more detailed defense and explanation, but since this is a blog and not a term paper, I’ll try to keep this under 1500 words.

1. Being a Christian does not remove ethnic and national identities.
In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free (Gal. 3:28), but this does not mean men cease to be male or Jews ceases to be Jewish. The worshiping throng gathered around the throne is not a bland mess of Esperanto Christians in matching khaki pants and white polos. God makes us one in Christ, but that oneness does not mean we can no longer recognize tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples in heaven. If you don’t have to renounce being an American in heaven, you shouldn’t have to pretend you aren’t one now.

2. Patriotism, like other earthly “prides,” can be a virtue or vice.
Most people love their families. Many people love their schools, their home, and their sports teams. All of these loves can be appropriate. In making us for himself, God didn’t mean to eradicate all other loves. Instead he wants those loves to be purer and in right proportion to our ultimate Love. Adam and Eve should have loved the Garden. God didn’t intend for them to be so “spiritual” that they were blind to the goodness around them. In the same way, where there is good in our country or family it is right to have affection and display affection for those good things.

Of course, we can turn patriotism into an idol, just like family can be an idol. But being proud of your country (or proud to be an American or a Canadian or a Russian or whatever) is not inherently worse than being proud of your kids or proud to be a Smith or a Jones or a Dostoevsky. I find it strange that while it is fashionable to love your city, be proud of your city, and talk about transforming your city, it is, for some of the same people, quite gauche to love your country, be proud of your country, and talk about transforming your country.

3. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country are not inherently incompatible.
Sometimes Christians talk like you should have no loyalty for your country, as if love for your country was always a bad thing. To be sure, this must never be ultimate loyalty. We must always obey God rather than men. But most Christians have understood the fifth commandment to be about honoring not only your parents but all those in authority over you.

Moreover, Jesus shows its possible to honor God and honor Caesar. This is especially clear if you know some of the Jewish history. The tax in question in Mark 12 is about the poll tax or census tax. It was first instituted in AD 6, not too many years before Jesus’ ministry. When it was established a man by the name of Judas of Galilee led a revolt. According to Josephus, “He called his fellow countrymen cowards for being willing to pay tribute to the Romans and for putting up with mortal masters in place of God.” Like the Zealots, he believed allegiance to God and allegiance to any earthly government were fundamentally incompatible. As far as they were concerned if God was your king, you couldn’t have an earthly king.

But Jesus completely disagreed. By telling the people to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” he was saying there are duties to government that do not infringe on your ultimate duty to God. It’s possible to honor lesser authorities in good conscience because they have been instituted by a greater authority.

If you read all that the New Testament says about governing authorities in places like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, you see that the normal situation is one of compatible loyalties. The church is not the state and the state is not God, but this does not mean the church must always be against the state. In general, then, it’s possible to be a good Christian and a good American, or a good Ghanaian or a good Korean. Patriotism is not bad. Singing your national anthem and getting choked up is not bad. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country do not have to be at odds.

4. God’s people are not tied to any one nation.
When Jesus says “go ahead and give to Caesar what belongs to him” he is effectively saying, “you can support nations that do not formally worship the one true God.” Or to put it a different way: true religion is not bound with only one country. This means–as we see in Revelation 7 and Isaiah 49 and Psalm 87 and Matthew 28 and Acts 1and a hundred other places–the Church will be transcultural and transnational.

While American churches are in America, they must never be only American churches. We must keep in mind (and when applicable, explicitly state) that our congregations are filled with brothers and sisters from all over the world. Likewise, we must work hard to help people see that Christianity is not just a Western religion or American religion. Christianity started in the Middle East and quickly spread to North Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. The Church was always meant to be international. 

Today there are more Anglicans in church in Nigeria than in England, more Presbyterians in South Korea than in the United States. The promise to Abraham way back in Genesis is that through his family God would bless the whole world. Christianity is not tied to just one certain nation. Following Christ is not an ethnic thing. You can be from any country and worship Jesus.

5. All this leads to one final point: while patriotism can be good, the church is not a good place for patriotism.
We should pray for service men and women in our congregations. We should pray for the President. We should pray for the just cause to triumph over the evil one. We are not moral relativists. We do not believe just because all people are sinners and all nations are sinful that no person or no nation can be more righteous or more wicked than another. God may be on America’s side in some (not all) her endeavors.

But please think twice before putting on a Star Spangled gala in church this Sunday. I love to hear the national anthem and “God Bless America” and “My Country, Tis of Thee,” but not in church where the nations gather to worship the King of all peoples. I love to see the presentation of colors and salute our veterans, but these would be better at the Memorial Day parade or during a time of remembrance at the cemetery. Earthly worship should reflect the on-going worship in heaven. And while there are many Americans singing glorious songs to Jesus there, they are not singing songs about the glories of America. We must hold to the traditions of the Apostles in our worship, not the traditions of American history. The church should not ask of her people what is not required in Scripture. So how can we ask the Koreans and Chinese and Mexicans and South Africans in our churches to pledge allegiance to a flag that is not theirs? Are we gathered under the banner of Christ or another banner? Is the church of Jesus Christ–our Jewish Lord and Savior–for those draped in the red, white, and blue or for those washed in the blood of the Lamb?

In some parts of the church, every hint of patriotism makes you a jingoistic idolater. You are allowed to love every country except your own. But in other parts of the church, true religion blends too comfortably into civil religion. You are allowed to worship in our services as long as you love America as much as we do. I don’t claim to have arrived at the golden mean, but I imagine many churches could stand to think more carefully about their theology of God and country. Churches should be glad to have their members celebrate Memorial Day with gusto this Monday. We should be less sanguine about celebrating it with pomp and circumstance on Sunday.

Make Much of Him

Kevin DeYoung post:  Glory of God:  The Weight of Glory

Revelation 14:6-7
And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory…” (v. 7)

Starting next week, we’ll look at fourteen specific examples of how we can glorify God in all of life. But first we need to ask more generally, what do “glory” and “glorify” mean? Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory; it literally means “weight.” The glory of God is the weight of all that God is, the fullness of his understanding, virtue, and happiness, as Jonathan Edwards put it.

We glorify God when we throw a spotlight on how great God is. To glorify God is to make much of him–as a mother makes much of her daughter when she fusses and frets over her. To glorify God is to magnify the greatness of his character–not as a microscope magnifies by making small objects look large, but as a telescope magnifies by giving us a glimpse of things that are unimaginably big. To glorify God is to honor his worth–just as I honor my wife by taking her out on an anniversary date when I could be watching the Chicago Bears, demonstrating that she is more valuable and desirable than football.

God’s perfect love, power, wisdom, sovereignty, and grace make him glorious. Pointing others to the majesty of God and being satisfied with the worth and weight of this majesty make us God-glorifiers.

Great Commission and Missional

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer: Developing Missional Churches for the Great Commission, Part Two: The Great Commission and Missional Thinking

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Jesus was sent from the Father on a mission with an agenda: redemption. He is redeeming people and the world to and for Himself. And, that means we must be passionate about the advance of the gospel because of Jesus' call and his example. You can be an evangelistic church and not be missional, but you cannot be a missional church and not be evangelistic. Let me say it this way. If we are not developing "missional" churches for the Great Commission, we are not developing missional churches--at least in a biblical sense of the word. Yes, handing out coffee, teaching kids to read, and picking up trash in a park can be done for Christ. When we do these types of things, we are seeking to make the world more like Jesus intends for it to be. Seeking to be missional, however, without following the commissions of Jesus is not joining God on mission. It is merely pursuing a mission that we have created, not one where we follow Jesus on the mission he proclaimed.

Two perspectives must be embraced to develop missional churches for the Great Commission. We need a strong DNA and a corresponding culture that cultivates the conviction that Great Commission lifestyles are critical to accomplishing the mission God. New churches have the opportunity to shape a Missional DNA into new congregation. For existing churches, installing a Great Commission and missional DNA is a retrofit issue. Regardless of the church's age, cultivating DNA is hard work. The concept of being a missionary cannot be taught through reading good books and attempting to modify behavior. The significance and implications of the Great Commission must be fully internalized by core leadership teams in new or existing congregations. It takes time and leadership to cultivate and mature this DNA in the life of the church.

A Great Commission Ethic must be championed. The ethic is: We will, as we go, make disciples, baptize, and teach with a focus on people groups in the authority of Jesus Christ. To not do this is to ignore or marginalize the Great Commission, and that opposes biblical Christianity because it opposes the character and work of Christ. He was sent by His Father to establish the kingdom of God on the earth and redeem a people by His death for the kingdom, and He is the Sender of a sent people who are commissioned to speak and live out His message.

Part three will consider the challenge of being missional. For now, feel free to discuss and weigh in.

Crossing Paths

Mark Batterson post:  Non-Profit Businesses

I flew down to Charlotte, NC yesterday to explore some opportunities with my friend, David Docusen.  David is the pastor of Center City Church and he is spearheading the first Ebenezer’s franchise.  We’re hoping to create a prototype of how this coffeehouse concept can spread with the motivation of creating space where the church and community can cross paths and creating a non-profit model that gives away every penny of profit.  That makes it a double win for the kingdom.

While I was there we had lunch at the King’s Kitchen.  It’s a non-profit restaurant that employs the unemployable–former inmates, homeless, etc.  Then they give the profits back to feed those in need. Plus they have great food. And one more thing, they let a church use their space on Sundays!  That’s kingdom vision.

We need a few more anointed businesses that think creatively about how the kingdom and their business can collide to bless others.

Second

I am Second is a movement meant to inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others. Actors. Athletes. Musicians. Business leaders. Drug addicts. Your next-door neighbor. People like you. The authentic stories on iamsecond.com provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living. These are stories that give hope to the lonely and the hurting, help from destructive lifestyles, and inspiration to the unfulfilled. You’ll discover people who’ve tried to go it alone and have failed. Find the hope, peace, and fulfillment they found. Be Second.

I Am Second

Unbridled Adoration

Scotty Smith: A Prayer about the Only Love Better Than Life

     Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. Ps. 63:3–5

     Dear Jesus, King David’s words of unbridled adoration are a rebuke to my measured heart. I spend a lot of time and energy trying to make a “better” life for myself, and yet David speaks of your love as being better than life itself! What a holy paradox, magnificent mystery, and glorious craving. Oh, to know your love in such a sensate, soul-satisfying way.
     Jesus, what would it be like to be so alive to the width, length, height, and depth of your love that I lose control? David danced with shameless nakedness before the returned ark of the covenant. Why can’t I be as free before the finished cross of glory? Free me from my inhibitions. Take the restrictor plates off my joy. Remove the governor on my affections.
     I have no trouble singing to you or lifting my hands in the assembly of your people. But I want to be so smitten with your love I’ll love well in contexts not so safe and predictable. I want your love to be so compelling that I don’t think of “witnessing” to people, just loving and serving them. I want your love to be so satisfying that I’ll live much more transparently and authentically before others. I want a heart so at home in your embrace that your fame, not my shame, will be the driving force in everything I do.
     I want your love to bring forth hot tears of compassion and loud guffaws of joy. I want your love to free me for loving my spouse and children without reservation and with great spontaneity. I want to be a fearless engaged friend—one who offers others a fresh taste of how you love us in every season of life. I want your kindness to override my prejudice; your patience to supplant my pettiness; your forbearance to trump my grumpiness. You’ve set me free for eternity. Jesus, please set me free for today. I pray with great anticipation, in your loving name. Amen.
 

Ecclesiological Buffet?

Excerpts from Matt Chandler post:  Is Church Membership Biblical?

“The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”

— Cyprian, Treatise on the Unity of the Church, 6.

I was 28 when I became the pastor of Highland Village First Baptist Church (now known as The Village Church). I had had a rough go early on in my church experience, and at that time I was not fully out of my “disenchanted with the local church” phase.

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure at the time that church membership was biblical. Despite that, the Spirit had made it all too clear that I was going to be pastoring this small church in the suburbs of Dallas. That was one of the many ironies of my life in those days.

Highland Village First Baptist Church was a “seeker-sensitive” church in the Willow Creek mold and had no formal membership process, although they were actively working on one and wanted the new pastor’s input. I had a strong understanding of the church universal but wasn’t well versed—and, as I said, somewhat skeptical—about the church local. We started growing quickly with young and oftentimes disenchanted 20-somethings who usually had no church background, or bad church backgrounds. They liked The Village because we were “different.” This always struck me as strange because we weren’t doing anything but preaching and singing.

In conversations with these men and women I began to hear things like “The church is corrupt; it’s just about money and a pastor’s ego,” or “I love Jesus, it’s the church I have a problem with.” My favorite one was, “When you organize the church it loses its power.” Although something occasionally resonated in me with these comments (I, along with most of my generation, have authority and commitment issues), I found them confusing since they were being made to me by people who were attending the church where I was the pastor.

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When you begin to look at these texts it becomes clear that God’s plan for his church is that we would belong to a local covenant community of faith. This is for our own protection and maturation, and for the good of others.

If you view church as some sort of ecclesiological buffet, then you severely limit the likelihood of your growing into maturity. Growth into godliness can hurt. For instance, as I interact with others in my own local body, my own slothfulness in zeal is exposed, as is my lack of patience, my prayerlessness, and my hesitancy to associate with the lowly (Rom. 12:11-16). Yet this interaction also gives me the opportunity to be lovingly confronted by brothers and sisters who are in the trenches with me, as well as a safe place to confess and repent.  But when church is just a place you attend without ever joining, like an ecclesiological buffet, you just might consider whether you’re always leaving whenever your heart begins to be exposed by the Spirit, and the real work is beginning to happen.

What’s the bottom line? Local church membership is a question of biblical obedience, not personal preference.

One Life

Just came across this -- haven't looked at it fully yet:

Christianity Explored

Best Teaching

When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard. 

Matthew 7:28-29 [Message]

Mercy of God

Ray Ortlund post:  Dealing with Discouragement

“Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.”    II Corinthians 4:1

“How do you handle discouragement?  … Some of us can become impatient, some of us may give in to murmuring, some of us may opt for some form of self-medication in hopes of just drowning the discouragement out.  What kept the apostle Paul from throwing in the towel was the mercy of God.  When you know you deserved death, and you get life, it changes everything.  Paul never got over having experienced the mercy of God in his life – of being able to get what he didn’t deserve.  That gives Paul the power to persevere.  Paul’s secret is that he never lost sight of it.  He never got over God’s mercy, and throughout his life it changed everything. Mercy was Paul’s medicine.”

-Rev. Paul Beck, preaching here

Guest post by Gavin Ortlund

It's Messy

Steven Furtick post:  Cleaning the Machine vs. Doing the Laundry

Recently Holly tried to buy laundry detergent and instead accidentally bought detergent that was meant to clean the washing machine. I didn’t even know such things existed. But they do.

Is it just me, or does that seem totally useless and silly? Isn’t the washing machine already pretty clean from washing dirty laundry?

Yet it strikes me that what would seem silly to a lot of us is all too common in the Church today. How many churches are just keeping the machine clean, but not doing any dirty laundry?

In other words, far too often churches would rather have a squeaky clean image than have to deal with the messiness of sinful people. We create graceless environments that do not eliminate sin, but instead drive people to live double lives. We’re quick to write people off the second they fail. Or we get nervous when “that” kind of person walks through our doors. All in the name of having a clean machine.

And then we act surprised when people who don’t have all their crap together leave the church. Or never come at all.

I don’t think many people really realize or want to admit how messy, slow, painful and gradual real change is. People will sometimes tell me that we have to do something about the students at Elevation. We need to deal with them. They’re coming to our church but they’re still sinning. One person actually left the church one time and said it was because there were some people in our church that were hypocrites.

That’s about as asinine as saying a doctor doesn’t need to keep treating sick people. Or people who get sick more than once.

Of course there are teenagers who are still having sex. Of course there are hypocrites. And I’m proud of it. That’s why we started Elevation. To do the dirty laundry. To see people far from God come to know Him and have their lives turned upside down. So that teenagers wouldn’t sell out to the lowest common denominator of middle and high school existence. So that hypocrites wouldn’t be hypocrites anymore.

But here’s the truth many churches don’t want to accept: it’s very messy for broken people to be healed and transformed. It takes time. Birth is messy. It isn’t pretty. And guess what? Neither is new birth. Following Jesus is messier than people make it out to be. And it’s just as messy and dirty for churches trying to empower people to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the Church is called to be holy. I believe the best thing we can do for people sometimes is call them on their crap.

But I also believe we sometimes want people to get it faster than the disciples did without showing the patience Jesus showed. I also believe that the same Jesus who calls us to be holy also said He came for those who were dirty. Not for those who were clean.

I also believe you and I were one of them:
Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” “‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. (Ezekiel 16:6,9)

And I also believe Jesus wants us to do the same for others. Even if it’s messy.

Gathered and Scattered

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Musings on the Missional Manifesto, Part 5: The Church

...

Here is how the fifth affirmation reads in the manifesto:

Church: The church is a sign and instrument of the Kingdomof God, birthed by the gospel of the Kingdom and tasked with the mission of the Kingdom. The church is a covenant community of imperfect but redeemed believers living in our world. Followers of Christ do not live out their mission in isolation, but rather the Spirit of God enfolds believers into local Christian communities, i.e. churches. It is in and through such community their mission in the world is enhanced.

The church has been addressed in our musings on previous affirmations. That is unavoidable for the Kingdom, mission, and the church are connected, even inseparable.

The opening sentence of the statement on the church demonstrates how these three biblical themes are intertwined in the missional conversation. The framers used the well-worn images of "sign" and "instrument" to described the role of the church in the Kingdom mission of God.

Let's step back and dig around these images to see what it means to say, "the church is a sign and instrument of the Kingdom of God." As I do this, remember, these are my thoughts. The crafting of the affirmation was a cooperative work of the framers, but this blog post represents, well, my thoughts.

...

I think that some are making similar mistakes today--focusing on the Kingdom to the marginalization of the church. There are many today who are also abandoning the church, believing it is not essential to be apart of a local church in order participate in God's mission.

It is my conviction that as we realize the connection of the church's identity and mission to the kingdom mission of God can we begin to understand the essential missional calling of the church for the world. As David Fairchild says, "To have a gospel-initiative, it must be placed in the context of a gospel community. The world will know we are Christians not by our disconnected, loose affiliations for one another but for our love for one another in a radical gospel community. Without the church, the preview of the Kingdom and the witness of the truth claims of the gospel are lost." [1]

It's important to note the difference between the Great Commission to make disciples, and the Great Commandments to love God and neighbor.

The former is the formal mission of the local church, our primary objective in the world. The latter is the responsibility of all Christians to be salt and light, representing God to the world in their personal life and vocation. Yes, these commands are distinct, and that should not be overlooked. But, also these commands intersect. They represent the role of the gathered and scattered church--different, but deeply connected.

As the people of God (the church) live in the world together and live for the good of their communities (loving and serving them and sharing the gospel), our lives reflect our message, and the mission is advanced. Our good works in the world complement the mission of the church.

Put another way, the church (as people) has/have different roles in its scattered and its gathered states.

So, its disciplemaking focus is evident while gathered and the church is essential to that process. Yet, Christians (the church scattered) also and still have a role of sharing Christ and doing good. Their connection to the church enhances that mission as well and must not be lost-- living for Jesus, but being disconnected from his body.

 ...

 

Finding Happiness

Excerpt from John Piper:  Get Wisdom

I believe all men have this in common: that they want to be happy. They do not all agree on what brings the greatest happiness, but they do all long to have it. And this longing is not bad. It is good. Evil consists in trying to find happiness in ways that displease and dishonor God. Goodness consists in finding happiness in ways that please and honor God. We can conceive of a world in which we might be called upon to do right at the expense of our ultimate happiness. But that is not the world in which we live. God has established this world in such a way that doing good through faith in Christ always leads to greater happiness eventually. We do not live in a world where we must choose between our eternal happiness and God's glory! God has created this world and its moral laws in such a way that the more we choose to glorify God, the happier we will be.

Of course this does not mean that there is no discipline, no self-denial. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:34, 35). But it is clear from Jesus' words that self-denial is a means to saving our lives. This means simply that we must stop seeking our happiness in one way and start seeking it in another. Therefore what sets Christians off from the world is not that we have given up on the universal quest for happiness, but that we now seek our happiness from a different source and in different ways. We have learned from Jesus, who "for the joy set before him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2), that the joy we seek may require that we choose to suffer for Christ's sake. Yet we must never become self-pitying because "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). Nor can we ever become proud since we know that "suffering produces patience, and patience produces approvedness, and approvedness produces hope" (Romans 5:3, 4)—hope that God will restore our happiness one hundredfold (Mark 10:30). So you can't boast in your sufferings since they are all bringing about our greater happiness in God.

...

Come Thirsty and Drink!

Tullian Tchividjian post:  We Are Seasoned Do-It-Yourselfers

Thanks to my good friends Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, and Shane Rosenthal from The White Horse Inn, I was introduced to Harold Senkbeil. Dr. Senkbeil is a confessional Lutheran theologian who for many years served as Associate Professor in the Pastoral Ministry and Missions Department of Concordia Theological Seminary. He’s the author of many books including the one I’m reading right now entitled Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness. You’ll be hearing more from me about Senkbeil, but this section on page 170 that I read last night is too good not to share right away.

Speaking specifically to Christians, he writes:

Our Heavenly Father attaches no strings to His love. His love for us doesn’t depend on our love for others. Our relationship with the Father was established long ago, in the body and blood of His Son. Jesus Christ erased all our sins and shouldered all our sorrows. Already now we have a solid relationship with our heavenly Father; there’s no need to fret about it. That relationship doesn’t depend on our love for Him, but on His love for us. It hinges on the Gospel of God, not the Law of God…Again, the Old Adam betrays us. Our sinful nature would much rather hear Law than Gospel. The sinful nature is a seasoned do-it-yourselfer. We’d rather know what we should do, yet God insists on telling us who we are. The best way to tell you what to do as a Christian is to tell you who you are in Christ. The sinful nature likes to think it can earn (and keep) God’s favor. Our Old Adam prefers to base security with God the Father on His Law rather than His Gospel.

What Senkbeil gets at in this section is the fact that we are, without question, a society of doers. Ever since the Enlightenment, we’ve been told in a thousand different ways that accomplishment precedes acceptance; that achievement precedes approval. And since we all long for affirmation and validation, we set out to prove our worth by working. Unwittingly, Christians in this cultural context have absorbed this mentality and taken it into their relationship with God and their understanding of the Christian life. As it was with Martha in Luke 10:38-42, so it is with us: we just have to be doing something. We can’t sit still. Achieving, not receiving, has become the mark of spiritual maturity. With this in mind, Martin Luther wrote, “To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.” The hardest thing to do even as believers in Christ is to simply sit down and receive something, which is why Mike Horton titled one of the chapters in his book The Gospel-Driven Life, “Don’t Just Do Something Sit There.”

As I mentioned a few posts ago, preachers these days are expected to provide a practical “to-do” list, rather than announce, “It is finished.” They are expected to do something more than placard before their congregations eyes Christ’s finished work, preaching a full absolution solely on the basis of the complete righteousness of Another. It’s important to remember that the application that defines Christians is the application of Christ’s work to them, not their work for Christ.

John Piper once asked, “How do you glorify a water fountain? Come thirsty and drink!” Jesus is not glorified by our “doing” things for him. He is glorified by our resting in, and receiving, what he’s done for us.

Feast of Fat Things

Ray Ortlund post:  Our main sin, Christ's main goal

John Owen:

Indeed, the great sin of believers is, that they make not use of Christ’s bounty as they ought to do; they do not every day take of him mercy in abundance. (Communion with God, pp. 239-40)

That fits with what Owen later calls Christ’s greatest goal.

The prime end and aim of the Lord Christ . . . is, to gather in those heirs of salvation to the enjoyment of that feast of fat things which he has prepared for them in his house. (p. 337)

Guest post by Dane Ortlund

Dear Father

Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer (in the Divine Conspiracy) by Dallas Willard:

Dear Father always near us,
may your name be treasured and loved,
may your rule be completed in us --
may your will be done here on earth
in just the way it is done in heaven.
Give us today the things we need today,
and forgive us our sins and impositions on you,
as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.
Please don't put us through trials,
but deliver us from everything bad.
Because you are the one in charge,
And you have all the power,
And the glory too is all yours -- forever --
which is just the way we want it.
Amen (or, Whoopie)!

Joy

Collin Hansen post:  Looking for Joy in All the Right Places

David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times, specializes in making cultural observations that explain the nature of our motivations in business, politics, and ethics. He’s convinced that we pay far too much attention to the “outer mind,” which “hungers for status, money, and applause.” This is how we describe the world around us, admiring the wealthy, powerful, and talented.

But such achievements cannot make us truly happy, Brooks writes in his bestselling new book, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. Unlike the “outer mind,” the “inner mind,” he argues, “hungers for harmony and connection—those moments when self-consciousness fades away and a person is lost in a challenge, a cause, the love of another or the love of God.” When we lose ourselves in service, in giving, in worship, we find true contentment.

We don’t have to read Brooks, though, to learn that fame and fortune cannot deliver on their promises. Indeed, Christians have read in their Bibles for centuries that profits in this world never satisfy when eternal ones are forfeited (Ecc. 5:10-12; Luke 18:18-30; 1 Tim. 6:6-10). Now Brooks presents us with the data to see it with our own eyes.

To be sure, the happy may work hard, make money, and own a home. Poverty does not correspond to happiness; financial security brings some peace. But the truly content among us—whatever their net worth—take real, lasting joy in deep relationships. Brooks cites one study that says marriage has the psychological effect of making $100,000 annually. Are you discontent due a low income? Meet only one time per month with a group, and you’ll receive the same measurable gain in happiness as doubling your salary. Happy people grab dinner with friends after work. They have sex. On the other hand, nothing is more closely associated with unhappiness than commuting. It breeds loneliness. In turn, loneliness leads to judgment, which leads to more loneliness, because no one wants to be around you.

The tradeoffs we make to pursue lives of isolated luxury hardly seem worth the trouble. The good news is that some of us seem to be realizing it. Brooks writes that homebuyers in the 1990s indicated that they wanted to live near golf courses, an indication of high economic status. Now many buyers are looking for coffee shops and community centers. Big houses can inhibit the close connections so vital to happiness.

Alternate Community, Parallel Universe

The sad reality is that while God’s Word teaches that we find true joy in loving God and loving neighbor, Christians fall prey to the same temptations to seek ultimate fulfillment in money, comfort, and power. When we do, the church offers no alternate community, merely a parallel universe consumed with lesser entertainment masquerading as worship. Mirroring the culture, we have nothing to offer it. We see this most brazenly in churches preaching the prosperity gospel. But none of us is safe in a culture that chafes at the cost of discipleship.

Like Brooks, some Christians recognize the severity of our social plight and point the way toward escape. Writing When the Church Was a Family: Recapturing Jesus’ Vision for Authentic Christian Community, Joseph Hellerman implicates the church in the American capitulation to unfettered individualism. A pastor and Talbot School of Theology professor, Hellerman reminds us, “Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community.” So does good parenting and wise decision-making, to cite just two other examples Hellerman treats in his valuable book. He takes us back to the early church, which was propelled by the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to demonstrate the love of God in the hostile Roman world.

Hellerman helpfully examines the historical evidence to help us understand the social world of the Bible, a communal context foreign to modern-day Americans. He argues that we desperately need one another to resist the culture’s tug toward the solitary, selfish pursuit of merely financial gain.

Bible knowledge is not enough. A more thoroughgoing resocialization is necessary. Until we truly begin to understand and embrace the strong-group model of the church as a family, we will have neither the theological foundation nor the social capital necessary to act in a manner diametrically opposed to the dominant culture of radical individualism. We will successfully swim upstream against the raging river of personal sin and selfishness only in the context of community as God intends it.

Hellerman echoes Brooks by pointing out that our neighbors—lonely, jaded, and confused—are learning their need for healthy relationships. But all they’ve known is brokenness in their families and among their friends. The world offers no sure solution, only the fleeting joys found with friends on hiking trails and in workout clubs.

In the church, however, we’ve been given the privilege of representing the King of the universe as ambassadors. God makes his appeal of reconciliation through us (2 Cor. 5:20). But it’s hard for us to testify on behalf of the King if we don’t value what he values. Since Christ has given himself for us, let us give ourselves to one another and our neighbors, and in this giving receive joy eternal.

Faithful

Ray Ortlund post:  Covered

Six months ago I abruptly transitioned out of the work I had been doing for the past nine years.  While it was very clear to me that God had closed the door, it still left me feeling very vulnerable.  Now unemployed, and soon to bring our second child into the world, I was very in touch with a deep sense of neediness that I knew I couldn’t fix on my own.

As I came before the Lord in this vulnerable posture, a picture came to my heart:  it was of a child lying down at night, trying to pull a blanket up over herself to be covered, but the blanket was too small; it didn’t fit her anymore.  She couldn’t cover herself.  Then, in the midst of her struggle, a blanket was lowered down upon her from above.  This blanket was sufficient for the job.  It was large and warm, and it covered the child’s exposed body.  I took comfort in this image.  It helped me better trust that in this new place of vulnerability, God himself would cover me.  He would provide.  And He has.  In the midst of what has been a very difficult year, He has covered me, primarily through the body of Christ, and also through an unexpected recent job.

Just as Moses struck the rock in the desert and the Israelites drank (Numbers 20), that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), and He who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) is our rock, able and willing to provide for our needs.

“The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.  The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.  You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”  Psalm 145:13b-16

Guest post by Krista Ortlund Scheidt

Mercy Ministry

What's Best Next post:  A Model for Helping Those in Great Need

Fantastic. Here is the mission, vision, and philosophy of ministry for a mercy ministry that just started at my church:

Mission
The seventeen-mile rugged descending road from Jerusalem to Jericho is the setting for the Good Samaritan to display mercy and restoration to a beat-up man and robbed stranger. Jesus tells us to go and do likewise. Luke 10:35-35

It is not enough to bandage the wounds of the beaten up man. It is necessary to give him a donkey ride to the inn in Jericho so that he can be fully restored.

“From crisis to Christ-centered restoration.”

Vision
To meet the basic needs of the hungry, homeless, and unemployed while teaching life skills that will lead them to be community minded and part of a Christ-centered church.

Philosophy of Ministry
It is a privilege and honor, not a sacrifice, to serve the low income/no income persons in a Christ-like way.

Ministry Programs
We will be there for a person’s crisis. But, far beyond just crisis food and financial response, we want people to be restored. This will happen through the following development programs . . .

Here are two reasons why I’m so enthusiastic about this. First, it affirms the need to not only meet immediate needs, but also to teach life skills and restore people so they can become self-sustaining. Second, though this is not easy, they see this as a privilege, not a sacrifice.

I commend this as an example of a mercy ministry founded in good thinking (and good theology) regarding relief and restoration for those in great need.

New Creations

Beautiful Things Lyrics from Gungor

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way?
I wonder if my life could really change at all?
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

Oh, you make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
Making me new

...

Abounding

Josh Etter post:  Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord

Charles Spurgeon on spending yourself for Christ:

People said to me years ago, ‘You will break your constitution down with preaching ten times a week,’ and the like. Well, if I have done so I am glad of it. I would do the same again. If I had fifty constitutions I would rejoice to break them down in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. You young men that are strong, overcome the wicked one and fight for the Lord while you can. You will never regret having done all that lies in you for our blessed Lord and Master.

Excepted from an 1876 sermon titled "For the Sick and Afflicted."

Living Stones

Excerpt from Justin Taylor post:  New Testament Metaphors for the Church

The following is not meant to be exhaustive—one could also profitably include field, olive tree, flock, vine—but the following are verses that deal with the main New Testament metaphors for the church: body, marriage, family, and buildings.

...


The church is the temple of God, built with living stones, with Christ as the foundation and cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit indwelling it.


“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11).

“The household of God [is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

“‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ . . . ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’” (1 Pet. 2:6-7 [Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22).

"You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5).

"Do you not know that you [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor. 3:16-17).

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Cor. 6:19).

Not Lack

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  [ESV]

THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.  [Amplified]

The Lord is my shepherd;  I have everything I need.  [New Century]

You, LORD, are my shepherd.  I will never be in need.  [Contemporary English]

God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing.  [Message]

Psalm 23:1

Renew Them

Mark Batterson post:  Renewal = Death + Resurrection

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.  Renew them in our day, in our time make them known.” Habakkuk 3:2

We love this verse!  And all of us long for renewal until we find out what it means. It means “bring back to life” which necessitates death.  Simply put: spiritual renewal = death + resurrection. We all want renewal. But are you willing to die for it?  If you want renewal you have to die to self.  That means you have to die to pride, die to lust, die to selfishness, die to laziness, die to things that are permissible and strive for things that are beneficial.  There is no other way. You want to come alive?  Then die to self.  You want the fullness of life Jesus promised?  You will have to die a million little deaths to yourself.

Worth Everything

Steven Furtick post:  What is Your Vision Worth to You?

The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Nehemiah 2:4-5

Nehemiah left a comfortable job with the Persian government and risked his life in the presence of the king for the opportunity to rebuild the walls.

God’s vision for his life was worth everything to him.

His job security.
His status of living.
Even his life.

What is your vision for your life worth to you?

Honestly. What would you give up for it?

Your time?
Your pay grade?
Your comfortable lifestyle?
Your current career to start a new one?
Your current home to move to a new one in a new city?
Your relationships that are holding you back or bringing you down?
Even your life?

If not, the problem probably isn’t that you’re just not passionate enough about what your vision for your life is. It could be. Maybe you’ve just been lured into apathy and complacency for a vision that’s truly worth everything. But probably not.

The problem might be that your vision simply isn’t worth being passionate about. The problem might be that you’ve got the wrong vision. Or at least a vision that’s too small.

People who are living in God’s vision for them generally don’t have to get psyched up for it. They have down days. Days where it’s hard to keep chasing after it. Yet their passion sustains them because their vision compels them. Passion is what you’re willing to give up for what you love. And the assumption is that what you love is worth giving something up for.

If your vision for your life isn’t worth giving yourself up for, it’s not worth giving yourself to.

Stop wasting time spinning your wheels on something that can’t stir passion within you.


Go back to the drawing board. Pray. Seek. Dream.
And acquire a vision worthy of your life.

Missio Dei

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post: Musings on the Manifesto, Part 4: The Mission

It's time for another installment of "Musings on the Missional Manifesto." So far, we have looked at the first three affirmations on Scripture, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God. Also, you may want to see Alan Hirsch and I discuss the Manifesto here.

I hope you've begun to see the heart behind the manifesto from the posts in this series. We are excited about the impact the manifesto could have on the work of God's mission in the world. Further, I want to think more about each of the affirmations. The affirmations are the work of the framers, but I wanted to weigh in with some of my own thoughts here at the blog. That is why we are taking the time to "muse" about them. I invite you to join the conversation in the comment section.

Today, we look at the fourth affirmation on mission. Here is how it reads:

We affirm that the missio Dei is the mission of the triune God to glorify Himself. God does so in this world by redeeming sinful humans and, in the future, restoring corrupted creation. The Father sent the Son to accomplish this redemption and sends the Spirit to apply this redemption to the hearts of men and women. Included in God's mission is the missio ecclesia whereby He empowers the church for witness and service that leads to witness. Believers are called to share the gospel with people so they can come to know Christ. Moving from God, through the church, to the world, God's redemptive work results in people of every tribe, tongue and nation responding in lifelong worship of the God. Ultimately the missio Dei will encompass all of creation when God creates a new heaven and new earth.

When we begin to talk about "the mission of the triune God to glorify Himself," it must start with the idea of the missio Dei. This important concept is a Latin phrase for the "sending of God" or the "mission of God."

 ...


This divine missionary activity includes yet another noteworthy shift in thought: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world. Mission is therefore God's work in the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is a church because there is a mission, not vice versa.

As the manifesto states, "Moving from God, through the church, to the world, God's redemptive work results in people of every tribe, tongue and nation responding in lifelong worship of the God. Ultimately the missio Dei will encompass all of creation when God creates a new heaven and new earth." This is the end game of the missio Dei: a redeemed people dwelling with God in a redeemed creation.

Now the missio Dei concept has not been without its problems. As I mentioned in my introductory post for this series, some took this idea in the 1960s and it shipwrecked much of the world mission enterprise by claiming that the missio Dei was larger than (or even in spite of) the church. Their concern was that the mission of God was more than church extension-- and they were partially right. Unfortunately, some began to define the mission of God outside the instrument of the local church and exclusively in the world and thus, usurped mission completely.

I think that Christians must focus more on the missio Dei but they must do so while avoiding the errors of those who discussed similar truths in an earlier generation. The New Testament undoubtedly places the mission of the church within the larger context of God's purpose to restore the whole creation (Rom. 8:18-25; Col. 1:20). But it also gives the church a focal occupation in the life of the Kingdom: God's biblically mandated vessel for His redemptive agenda in the world.

Is God at work in the world outside of the church? Yes. But, is God working savingly outside of the proclamation of the gospel (from people who make up the church)? No. Common grace is extended to all, and God is sovereignly working throughout the world in every age to accomplish his purposes. But Kingdom work is also mission work, and the church is essential for Kingdom work. The gospel is the source for redemption and the church is God's instrument to extend His Kingdom mission.

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Don't Be Reasonable

What's Best Next post:  Don't Aspire to Mediocrity

Few people aspire to mediocrity. But they often drift into it because the temptation to cut corners and take the easy route is often not recognized. It’s not recognized because it’s often veiled in the advice to “be reasonable.”

But if you are going to be effective — that is, if you are going to truly serve people well (which is what effectiveness is about), then you can’t settle for being reasonable. You have to go the extra mile.

Here’s how Patrick Lencioni puts it in his latest newsletter:

If you’re not willing to do things that others would say are over the top, and if you’re not comfortable being criticized for being annoying and for having standards that seem perhaps just a little too high, then you’ll drift toward mediocrity.

And though no one would ever aspire to being mediocre, it is more tempting than we might realize.

After all, the majority of people out there will encourage us to take the easy route, because that isn’t threatening to them. They’ll support us as we justify cutting a corner here and lowering our standards there, because it isn’t reasonable to do anything more.

And I suppose that’s the whole point. Success isn’t about being reasonable. It’s demanding. It’s over the top. It can even be annoying. But it’s worth it.

Heart

Excerpt from Michael Hyatt post:  Three Reasons You Must Guard Your Heart

Your heart is the most important leadership tool you have. It is not your experience, knowledge, or skills. It is your heart that matters most of all.

Back in the mid-80s, I started my own business. My partner and I left big corporate jobs, developed a business plan, and began raising money for our new venture.

We had one investor who promised to make a sizable investment. However, he ran us through the ringer. The due diligence process was all-consuming. We really didn’t have time to court anyone else.

We made the fatal mistake of putting most of our eggs in one basket.

After months of back-and-forth, the investor decided not to make the investment after all. We were left high and dry, with about $12.00 in our checking account. We were disappointed, angry, and ready to quit. We almost lost heart.

However, that experience wouldn’t be the last time I experienced an assault on my heart. In my journal, I have cataloged almost twenty distinct situations where I was ready to quit and throw in the towel. In fact, as I have grown older, the conflict has intensified.

This is why, I think, as leaders we must be diligent to guard our hearts. King Solomon said it best: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

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Astonished

Scotty Smith post:  A Prayer for God to Override Our Unbelief

     “He [Peter] went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
     “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Acts 12:12–16

     Heavenly Father, thank you for chronicling this almost comical prayer meeting in your Word. As much as it exposes our unbelief, in a far greater way it highlights your faithful commitment to do exceedingly beyond all we can ask or imagine. This story describes the kind of praying that goes on in my heart way too often. I dutifully pray, but I faithlessly doubt. Forgive my unbelief; override my unbelief.
     There are many things I’m praying about right now for which I want to hear “Peter knocking at the door.” I have no need to be considered a great prayer warrior. I’m not looking for wonderful stories to tell others as a testimony to my faith. I simply want you to bring a whole lot of glory to Jesus. Astonish us, Father; astonish me.
     Father, I pray for our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and for their leaders. At times is seems as though evil is winning the day. Strengthen these believers, encourage them, and grant miracles of provision and deliverance. Cause the gospel to spread like wildfire. Give them so much joy, peace, and love that their persecutors will be convicted and fall down and worship you.
     Father, I pray for the courageous men and women who are laboring in the dark world of human trafficking. How long, O Lord, before the last woman and child will be sold as economic fodder? Bring justice to bear, holy God. Bring deliverance from the evil of slavery in every form. Protect the rescuers and provide good aftercare for those rescued.
     Father, I pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit on our church family, and others like ours. O, to experience a fresh movement of your soul-invigorating, worship-inducing, community-transforming Spirit! Shake us, wake us; melt us, mold us; fill us, free us. Let us have done with “lesser things” that we might more fully give ourselves to the things that matter the most to you.
     We’re spoiled; we’re dull; we’re bored and we’re boring. The main vision we need is a renewed vision of Jesus gathering his bride from the nations and making all things new. Free us from ourselves for yourself. Astonish us, Father; astonish us as you override our unbelief. I pray in Jesus’ exalted name. Amen.

Influence

Mark Batterson post:  Start Pastoring

I have a friend who used to be a pastor and now he’s a banker, but the truth is that he’s still a pastor. Instead of pastoring in a church he’s pastoring in a bank.  And the truth is, he’s having far more influence pastoring a bank than he ever did pastoring a church.

I don’t care if you’re a doctor, an actor, or teacher.  You are called to pastor the people around you.  What if you viewed your colleagues as your congregation?  What if you played the role of pastor?  What if you started looking for opportunities to pray or preach or counsel?  God has called has to be salt and light where we work.  After all, that is where we spend the vast majority of our waking hours! But too few of us view ourselves as pastors because we haven’t been to seminary or we don’t pastor a church.  We need a paradigm shift.

I happen to pastor a church, but I think that some of the greatest pastors aren’t even viewed as pastors.  They are entrepreneurs and entertainers and athletes and professionals who love Jesus Christ with all of their heart and understand that God has called them to pastor the people around them. They have turned a business, a film crew, a classroom or locker room into a church.

Start pastoring!

Gospel of Grace

Dane Ortlund post:  The Only Thing That Matters

I walked in the sunshine with a scholar who had effectively forfeited his prospects of academic advancement by clashing with church dignitaries over the gospel of grace. 'But it doesn't matter,' he said at length, 'for I've known God and they haven't.'

--J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 25

Heart Standeth In Awe

Excerpt from Pastor Paul post:  The Radical Experiment for 2011

On December 30, 1842 Robert Murray M'Cheyne wrote a letter to his Scottish congregation...

MY DEAR FLOCK, -- The approach of another year stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved. "God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." What the coming year is to bring forth who can tell? ... Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures, but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy-seat, if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say, like David – “The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from Thy law.” “Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of Thy word.”

Experiencing Grace

Josh Etter post:  People Do Not Drift Toward Holiness

Hard work is not the opposite of grace, it is the result of experiencing grace.

D. A. Carson explains:

People do not drift toward Holiness.

Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.

We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. 

(For the Love of God, Volume 2, paragraphing mine)

Keep Praying My Mantra

Excerpt from Gospel Balm post:  God Has Reduced Me

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God, of course, is ultimately responsible for all this. Yes, my gracious Heavenly Father, the one who loved me enough to send his Son to die in my place so I could be united to him by faith and credited with his righteousness so I could live with him forever. That Sovereign God is responsible.

He's the one who's ordained all the painful circumstances in my life. He knows that I use my superior intellect as a shield to protect myself when I'm afraid. He also knows how hard I've worked to hide from others, and even from myself, the evidence of my diminution since my chemotherapy. He knows these things about me, and yet he's now reduced me even further.

What am I to make of this?

The only conclusion is that this, like everything else he sends into my life, is for my good (Romans 8:28). After all, he loves me.

I may not understand all the whys and wherefores, but I do know the loving Lord who's ordained my pain. I'm tempted to be ashamed of my reduction, but I'm comforted to realize that the Apostle Paul was not ashamed of his own suffering for this very reason: He knew whom he believed (2 Timothy 1:11,12).

Sometimes this is the only life preserver God gives us to cling to in the stormy sea of life. And it turns out that it's enough. I keep praying my little mantra, "Help me, Lord. Help me," and he does. I believe him, I pray, and he answers.

Thank you, Lord, for any reduction that helps me see myself the way I really am. I'm so small, and you are so great. All I can do is rely upon you. Thank you for being absolutely reliable.

How about you? Can you, will you, trust the very God who has ordained your pain, believing that he's done it for your good, in love?