en they are threatened and lost.Tim Keller compared Religion and the Gospel this way:
Religion: “I obey-therefore I’m accepted.”
Gospel: “I’m accepted-therefore I obey.”
R: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
G: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
R: I obey God in order to get things from God
G: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.
R: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
G: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
R: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
G: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism. That’s how I became a Christian.
R: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
G: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.
R: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble, but not confident- I feel like a failure.
G: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am simultaneously sinful and lost yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling
R: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
G: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.
R: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
G: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me wh
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Religion vs. Gospel
4 Important Things about the Gospel
1. Gospel is spelled "d-o-n-e," not "d-o". The word "Gospel" implies an event that has already been done, not something we must go and do. The Gospel is not, then, primarily about what we are to go and do for God, but about what God has done for us. The Gospel is good news, not good advice.
2. The core message of that good news is that God saves sinners. From start to finish, it is all God's work, not ours.
3. Christ saved us by substituting for us. He lived the life we were supposed to have lived, and died the death we were condemned to die. Whatever "metaphor" you choose for salvation--justification, redemption, cleansing, defeat of the evil powers--substitution is the core of it. For example, Christ's blood cleanses us... but how? Because He substituted for us and absorbed the curse, corruption and condemnation for sin.
4. "The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time."
Lessons on Leadership from Chuck Swindoll
1) It’s lonely to lead. Leadership involves tough decisions. The tougher the decision, the lonelier it is.
2) It’s dangerous to succeed. I’m most concerned for those who aren’t even 30 and are very gifted and successful. Sometimes God uses someone right out of youth, but usually he uses leaders who have been crushed
3) It’s hardest at home. No one ever told me this in Seminary.
4) It’s essential to be real. If there’s one realm where phoniness is common, it’s among leaders. Stay real.
5) It’s painful to obey. The Lord will direct you to do some things that won’t be your choice. Invariably you will give up what you want to do for the cross.
6) Brokenness and failure are necessary.
7) Attititude is more important than actions. Your family may not have told you: some of you are hard to be around. A bad attitude overshadows good actions.
8) Integrity eclipse image. Today we highlight image. But it’s what you’re doing behind the scenes.
9) God's way is better than my way.
10) Christlikeness begins and ends with humility.
How Do You Know a Reliable Preacher
I want to provide you with a brief list of five questions (based on the five sola’s of the Reformation) that can help you discern the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.
Question 1 (Sola Scriptura): Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible? Does he, in other words, begin with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture? A reliable carrier of God’s truth seeks to revel in, wrestle with, and expound from, the Bible. He starts with the Bible. All of his comments flow from what a particular passage in the Bible says. He doesn’t simply use the Bible to support what he wants to say. That is, he submits to what the Bible says, he does not seek to submit the Bible to what he says. He cares about both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He refuses to take verses out of context. He recognizes the unity of the Bible. He acknowledges that both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell one story and point to one figure, namely that God saves sinners through the accomplished work of his son Jesus Christ.
Question 2 (Sola Gratia): Does the preacher freely emphasize that because of sin, a right relationship with God can only be established by God’s grace alone? Beware of any teaching that emphasizes man’s ability over God’s ability; man’s freedom over God’s freedom; man’s power over God’s power; man’s initiative over God’s initiative. Beware of any teaching which subtlety communicates that a right relationship with God depends ultimately on human response over Divine sovereignty.
Question 3 (Sola Fide): Does the preacher stress that salvation is not achieved by what we can do, rather salvation is received by faith in what Christ has already done? It has been rightly stated that there really are only two religions: the religion of human accomplishment and the religion of Divine accomplishment. Does the preacher emphasize the former or the latter? A reliable carrier of God’s truth always highlights the fact that God saves sinners; sinners don’t save themselves.
Question 4 (Sola Christus): Does the preacher underline that Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and man? Does the explainer both affirm and proclaim that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that nobody comes to the Father but by Christ? Does he talk about sin and the necessity of Christ? Preachers must learn how to unveil and unpack the truth of the Gospel from every Biblical text they preach in such a way that it results in the exposure of both the idols of our culture and the idols of our hearts. The faithful exposition of our true Savior from every passage in the Bible painfully reveals all of the pseudo-saviors that we trust in culturally and personally. Every sermon ought to disclose the subtle ways in which we as individuals and we as a culture depend on lesser things than Jesus to provide the security, acceptance, protection, affection, meaning, and satisfaction that only Christ can supply. In this way, good preachers must constantly show just how relevant and necessary Jesus is; they must work hard to show that we are great sinners but Christ is a great Savior.
Question 5 (Sola Deo Gloria): Does the preacher exalt God above all? A reliable explainer will always lead you to marvel at God. A true carrier of God’s truth will always lead you to encounter the glory of God. A God-centered teacher is just that: God-centered. He will preach and teach in such a way that you find yourself hungering and thirsting for God. You will listen to sermon after sermon and walk away with grand impressions of Divine personality, not grand impressions of human personality.
This is just a start, but I hope it serves as a resource to help you determine the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.
Baptist Days of Obligation
* Opening night/day of high school/college football season. (Depends on proximity of school, relationships to players, etc. Should include tailgating if possible.)
* Mother’s Day. Obligated to go to church with mom and then take her out to a restaurant, which means standing in line at Cracker Barrel for about 2 hours.
* Any church potluck or meal.
* Any Sunday that starts a revival (or any Sunday that begins a 40 Days of Purpose if your church dumped revivals.)
* Any wedding of anyone in your family within 250 miles.
* Any funeral of anyone in your family within 70 miles.
* The opening of any “Christian Film” in a theater, especially if the movie is produced by a church using their actors and cameras, or stars Kirk Cameron.
* The opening and any 5 subsequent showings of “The Passion of the Christ II.”
* Any school board meeting where creationism will be discussed.
* Homecomings at any church you’ve ever attended, even once, within 300 miles.
* Opening week of any buffet or Barbecue restaurant.
* Any Christian music festival held in an open field in August when the temperature is over 105 degrees.
* You must go vote if any conservative is running for anything.
* You must vote if your town is having a “wet/dry” election.
* Ladies: Any Christian Women’s Conference within 500 miles.
* Men: Any Promise Keeper’s Meeting within 500 miles.
* Christmas and Easter.
* Any church sponsored Super Bowl event.
* Any meeting related to voting on a building.
* Any Vacation Bible School “Family Night.”
* Any event involving Bill Gaither Homecomings.
* Any event involving Rick Warren.
* Any Upward Championship game involving your kids.
* Any Olin Mills Church Directory photoshoot.
* Any church softball game against another Baptist church.
* Any youth group fundraisers for the mission trip.
* Any open question/answer with prospective pastors.
* Any church business meeting where there’s a chance of a big fight or someone getting fired.
* Any Billy Graham Crusade within 1000 miles.
Missional Living
When we first set out to plant a missional church, we had some lively debates over what exactly it meant to live missionally. Does it mean moving into a disadvantaged neighborhood and working for renewal? Does it mean living in the same zip code so we can truly be a missional community? Does it mean deepening already-existing relationships with co-workers? Does it mean deliberately changing my patterns of life to bring me into contact with non-Christians “on their turf” (bars, music shows, nightclubs, etc)? Our conversations about these matters seemed easily to slide toward people moralizing their preferences and looking down on others who didn’t think like them. (Which is one reason why we consistently need to be reminded of the gospel!)
Tim Keller helps to answer this question by observing that the standard pattern of evangelism in the New Testament centered around the oikos (Greek for household). But the word household in NT times was much broader than we tend to think of it. “In the Bible, evangelism does not happen primarily through programs… it happens naturally through one’s oikos, or household… A household was not just your family, but… a fairly tight-knit, close set of colleagues, kin, friends, neighbors. It was understood that when you became a Christian, you had been called to be a steward, evangelistically speaking, of your oikos.”*
In our day, Keller suggests that the biblical term oikos applies to at least five networks: your kinship network (family and relatives), your neighborhood (those who live near you geographically), your colleagues (co-workers or co-students), your affinity network (people with a shared special interest), and your friends (those from the other 4 networks whom you develop a close relationship with). The relative strength or weakness of these five networks varies based on your context.
What it means to live missionally, then, is to have authentic friendship with people in these networks. That’s it. If Jesus is truly important to you, and if you have real friendships with people, then Jesus is going to come up sooner or later in the natural course of sharing life. You shouldn’t have to artificially shoehorn Jesus into every conversation, nor should you feel the need to hide or downplay your affection for him. Those in your oikos will get to know Jesus as they get to know you.
So – is missional living primarily about your neighborhood, your co-workers, your hunting buddies, or your non-Christian family members? The answer is: yes.
[*Quoted from "Evangelism and the Steward Leader," mp3 audio from Redeemer Presbyterian Church.]
9 Ways to Know that the Gospel is True
1. Jesus Christ, as he is presented to us in the New Testament, and as he stands forth from all its writings, is too single and too great to have been invented so uniformly by all these writers.
The force of Jesus Christ unleashed these writings; the writings did not create the force. Jesus is far bigger and more compelling than any of his witnesses. His reality stands behind these writings as a great, global event stands behind a thousand newscasters. Something stupendous unleashed these diverse witnesses to tell these stunning and varied, yet unified, stories of Jesus Christ.
2. Nobody has ever explained the empty tomb of Jesus in the hostile environment of Jerusalem where the enemies of Jesus would have given anything to produce the corpse, but could not.
The earliest attempts to cover the scandal of resurrection were manifestly contradictory to all human experience—disciples do not steal a body (Matthew 28:13) and then sacrifice their lives to preach a glorious gospel of grace on the basis of the deception. Modern theories that Jesus didn't die but swooned, and then awoke in the tomb and moved the stone and tricked his skeptical disciples into believing he was risen as the Lord of the universe don't persuade.
3. Cynical opponents of Christianity abounded where claims were made that many eyewitnesses were available to consult concerning the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). Such claims would be exposed as immediate falsehood if they could. But we know of no exposure. Eyewitnesses of the risen Lord abounded when the crucial claims were being made.
4. The early church was an indomitable force of faith and love and sacrifice on the basis of the reality of Jesus Christ.
The character of this church, and the nature of the gospel of grace and forgiveness, and the undaunted courage of men and women—even unto death—do not fit the hypothesis of mass hysteria. They simply were not like that. Something utterly real and magnificent had happened in the world and they were close enough to know it, and be assured of it, and be gripped by its power. That something was Jesus Christ, as all of them testified, even as they died singing.
5. The prophesies of the Old Testament find stunning fulfillment in the history of Jesus Christ.
The witness to these fulfillments are too many, too diverse, too subtle and too interwoven into the history of the New Testament church and its many writings to be fabricated by some great conspiracy. Down to the details, Jesus Christ fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies that vindicate his truth.
6. The witnesses to Jesus Christ who wrote the New Testament gospels and letters are not gullible or deceitful or demented.
This is manifest from the writings themselves. The books bear the marks of intelligence and clear-headedness and maturity and a moral vision that is compelling. They win our trust as witnesses, especially when all taken together with one great unifying, but distinctively told, message about Jesus Christ.
7. The worldview that emerges from the writings of the New Testament makes more sense out of more reality than any other worldview.
It not only fits the human heart, but also the cosmos and history and God as he reveals himself in nature and conscience. Some may come to this conclusion after much reflection, others may arrive at this conviction by a pre-reflective, intuitive sense of the deep suitability of Christ and his message to the world that they know.
8. When one sees Christ as he is portrayed truly in the gospel, there shines forth a spiritual light that is a self-authenticating.
This is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and it is as immediately perceived by the Spirit-awakened heart as light is perceived by the open eye. The eye does not argue that there is light. It sees light.
9. When we see and believe the glory of God in the gospel, the Holy Spirit is given to us so that the love of God might be "poured out in our hearts" (Romans 5:5).
This experience of the love of God known in the heart through the gospel of Him who died for us while we were yet ungodly assures us that the hope awakened by all the evidences we have seen will not disappoint us.
Brent Walker Speaks about Religious Liberty
Article by Marv Knox
Baptists must hold in tension three sets of paradoxical ideas if they are to remain faithful to their heritage and champion freedom, Brent Walker told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Award Dinner Oct. 30 in Dallas.
The awards dinner is sponsored every-other year by the T.B. Maston Foundation, named for a pioneering Baptist ethicist who taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth much of the 20th century. Maston shaped the ethical thinking of generations of ministers and gained a reputation for leading Baptists to support civil rights and racial reconciliation.
The foundation presented its 2009 Maston Award to Leon McBeth, a leading historian of the Baptist movement who taught at Southwestern Seminary for 43 years.
The history McBeth chronicled showed Baptists to be people who “fought for religious liberty -- for others as much as for ourselves,” stressed Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington.
If Baptists intend to preserve religious liberty, they must maintain balance within three sets of ideas, he added. They are:
• The two religion clauses in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The nation’s founders gave religious liberty “double protection” by including two religion clauses -- No Establishment and Free Exercise, he noted.
“Both ensure religious liberty; both require an institutional separation of church and state as a means to that end,” he said. “As soon as government starts to meddle in religion or takes sides in religious disputes, someone’s religious liberty is denied and everyone’s is threatened.”
Walker proposed a common-sense exercise for maintaining the tension between the religion clauses: “Every time we say ‘no’ to government’s attempt to promote religion to uphold the Establishment Clause, we should find a way to say ‘yes’ to its Free Exercise counterpart. This allows us always to seek to find a ‘win-win’ solution and keep these two clauses in proper balance.”
• Religious freedom and responsibility.
“Our freedom in Christ can never be separated from -- and must always be limited by -- the responsibility that we have to one another,” Walker stressed. “Freedom and responsibility, liberty and accountability -- these dyads must always be held in tension.”
Freedom and religious liberty are not ends in themselves, he added.
“We are free, in the words of the Great Commandment, to love God and love one another,” he said. “… And our freedom in Christ must always be exercised in the context of the responsibility we have to one another. This also involves the ethical imperative of ensuring everyone’s religious liberty. An attitude of ‘religious liberty for me but not for thee’ is self-centered, irresponsible and sinful.”
• Civic withdrawal and engagement.
“Historically, for most Baptists, the separation of church and state has never meant a segregation of religion from politics or to strip religious talk from the public square. It does not relieve Baptists of their duties of citizenship,” Walker insisted.
Citing examples of Baptists who engaged government across the past four centuries, Walker observed, “We have always been committed to doing -- rolling up our sleeves, going to work and speaking out in the public square.”
Tensions are part of life -- including public life, he concluded. “It is my prayer, in our so-called post-modern, post-denominational time and throughout the next 400 years, we Baptists carry forward a proper understanding of these three issues and deal with them responsibly and constructively.”
Matt Chandler using Eugene Peterson to tell us "Don't Be This Pastor?"
Matt Chandler, in his chapel address, (and at the A29 Louisville Bootcamp) quoted the following from Eugene Peterson’s Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (pp. 7-8):
For a long time, I have been convinced that I could take a person with a high school education, give him or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who would be satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The curriculum would consist of four courses.
Course I: Creative Plagiarism. I would put you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational talks, show you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and get you a reputation for wit and wisdom.
Course II: Voice Control for Prayer and Counseling. We would develop your own distinct style of Holy Joe intonation, acquiring the skill in resonance and modulation that conveys and unmistakable aura of sanctity.
Course III: Efficient Office Management. There is nothing that parishioners admire more in their pastors than the capacity to run a tight ship administratively. If we return all phone calls within twenty-four hours, answer all the letters within a week, distributing enough carbons to key people so that they know we are on top of things, and have just the right amount of clutter on our desk—not too much, or we appear inefficient, not too little or we appear underemployed—we quickly get the reputation for efficiency that is far more important than anything that we actually do.
Course IV: Image Projection. Here we would master the half-dozen well-known and easily implemented devices that that create the impression that we are terrifically busy and widely sought after for counsel by influential people in the community. A one-week refresher course each year would introduce new phrases that would convince our parishioners that we are bold innovators on the cutting edge of the megatrends and at the same time solidly rooted in all the traditional values of our sainted ancestors.
(I have been laughing for several years over this trade school training with which I plan to make my fortune. Recently, though, the joke has backfired on me. I keep seeing advertisements for institutes and workshops all over the country that invite pastors to sign up for this exact curriculum. The advertised course offerings are not quite as honestly labeled as mine, but the content appears to be identical—a curriculum that trains pastors to satisfy the current consumer tastes in religion. I’m not laughing anymore.)
3 Hard Truths for Me and other Pastors
3 Challenging Truths
Here are a few truths that I hope will challenge you to lead your family strongly while being a church planter or pastor:
1. The church can get another pastor, but your kids can't get another dad.
Like it or not, we only get one shot to raise our children. I talk to fathers all the time who lament their absence during their childrens' formative years because of working too much. Even though this is often true for pastors, it shouldn't be. Our biblical credentials for ministry deal mostly with how we lead our families and our own character, rather than how effective we are in ministry. And remember, no one reaches the end of their life saying "I wish I had spent more time working on my blog." Be the exception, not the rule.2. The church can get another pastor, but your wife only has one husband—and she needs a good one.
Oftentimes our wives take the brunt of the beating of our ministries: they hold us together, they hear us complain, and they hear others complain about us and experience the angst of how to handle it in a gospel way. Take it from someone who has greatly failed before in this area: do as much as you can to set clear boundaries between the church and home, and frequently check up on whether or not she enjoys being a part of the church. If she doesn't want to attend the church where you are the pastor, then it is a problem you need to deal with.3. A day off is not just a good idea. It is essential.
"Monday Funday" is as special as a 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card at our house. It is the day we play outside, eat Chinese food at a mall, and don't talk about the church. Our church knows about “Monday Funday” because I mention it in sermons, schedule around it, and unless someone is bleeding out in their kitchen, I do not violate it. My ministry and family are too important. Pick a Sabbath, keep it, and fight for it. Your soul and your family will thank you.Never forget: The first flock you lead is not the one that gathers on Sunday, but the one that lives at your house.
Are you leading them well?
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Stress of Preaching
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Dr. Blomberg always makes me Think
Having spent my annual week last week with my fellow members of the NIV-TNIV Committee on Bible Translation, sifting through large stacks of proposals for minor tweaking of how we translate this or that word or phrase in anything from Genesis to Revelation, I’m in the mood for writing a blog on translating Scripture. A series of conversations in recent months, linked only by the theme of Bible translation, has made me dramatically more aware than ever before of the following observations:
1) Many people, unchurched and churched alike, have never actually looked in any detail at multiple Bible translations and therefore don’t have a good feel for just how different and similar they are. As a result, they tend to think they are actually far more different than they really are, leading to strange questions like, “With so many different English translations, how do we know which one or ones, if any, we can trust.” The short and most basic answer is, except for those produced by unorthodox sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation or Joseph Smith’s personal Joseph Smith Translation, or those deliberately designed to be a paraphrase and not a bona fide translation at all (like The Message or the old Living Bible Paraphrased), you can trust ALL of them. Not one will ever flawlessly come up with the very best rendering in every passage, but not one will ever lead you astray on any important matter of faith and practice. Do yourself the favor of getting the software that allows you to compare a couple dozen major English translations for a representative cross-section of Bible verses or passages of your choice and prove it to yourself!
2) Because of the passion with which some scholars and church leaders have advocated one of the bona fide translations above others or criticized one or more of those translations, way too many people both inside and outside of the church have the misimpression that you can’t trust all of them the way point 1) above phrases it. It’s time for those scholars and church leaders to come clean and correct these misimpressions. With the wealth and luxury of so many options in the English-speaking world, it’s time to put a lot less money and effort into internecine argumentation and a lot more into letting the world know the magnificent wonders of this collection of books we call the Bible, regardless of what translation one prefers!
3) We must help our people, and others, understand the difference between formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, and mediating approaches. To oversimplify but to make the point, the more literal the translation is, the harder it will be for the general population at large to understand it. The more readable for one particular subculture the translation, the less literal it will be. It is simply inaccurate and thus irresponsible to say that the more literal a translation, the better, for all situations. The most literal translation of all is an interlinear, which is indecipherable to most people. The most readable, understandable and accurate, all in one package, will always be those translations that do not consistently aim for either formal equivalence (word-for-word renderings) or dynamic equivalence (thought-for-thought), but aim at a middle ground between the two—as literal as possible while still being as fluent and understandable by the greatest number of people as possible.
4) In light of this last point, and completely apart from debates about inclusive language, the tradition of translating represented by the NIV-TNIV continues to achieve this balance most consistently. The next best options aren’t even close.
Why? or Why not?
Retired BWA leader Lotz receives freedom award from Adventists 
By ABP staff Tuesday, June 23, 2009
BWA General Secretary Emeritus Denton Lotz (R) receives the ward from John Graz, secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association. (BWA photo)WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Retired Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz has been honored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and affiliated religious-liberty organizations for his contributions to furthering global religious freedom.
He received the International Award for Religious Liberty June 18 at a dinner in Washington. The dinner and award are co-sponsored by the Adventists in conjunction with their religious-freedom publication, Liberty magazine, and the International Religious Liberty Association. Lotz is currently president of the association, which was founded by Adventists in 1893 but is non-sectarian and open to all supporters of church-state separation and religious freedom.
Lotz, who was named BWA’s general secretary emeritus upon his retirement in 2007, was awarded for making “religious freedom a major focus of his ministry as church leader and church statesman," according to a BWA press release.
In his response, Lotz said the award was recognition of the role that Baptists have played in the defense of religious liberty since the founding of the Baptist movement 400 years ago, in 1609. Baptists, he said, were often persecuted because of their anti-establishment stance and their defense of the liberty of conscience.
“Baptists were a persecuted group,” he told the roughly 300 guests gathered in the ballroom of the Capital Hilton hotel. “We believe that where religious freedom is denied, all other freedoms are denied.”
Keynote speaker for the dinner was Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), an ordained United Methodist minister who, prior to being elected to Congress, served as the first African-American mayor of Kansas City, Mo. “Everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, yet persecutions and atrocities are still taking place,” he said, according to the Adventist News Network.
Cleaver underscored the fact that, more than 60 years after the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hundreds of millions of people around the world continue to be mistreated because of their faith.
“The choice to privately or publicly practice a religious belief or the choice to abstain from a religious belief or the choice to change one's own religious beliefs is unmistakably fundamental to human rights,” he said.
The Bentz Family to Lesotho
Mark and Linda Bentz and family from Milton, Wisconsin, are preparing to serve as missionaries in Lesotho, Africa. They were mentioned in the April 2009 Sabbath Recorder, and will again be featured in the upcoming July-August issue.These are precious Seventh Day Baptists who are leaving the comfort of home and extended family to serve the Lord with African Inland Missions. They plan to spend the next two-and-a-half years teaching, assisting in childbirth, leading Bible Studies, witnessing and caring for the people of Lesotho which lies wholly within the larger Republic of South Africa. They still need support.
You may send your checks to Africa Inland Mission, PO Box 178, Pearl River NY 10965. If you’d like to contact and encourage the Bentz family, write to mbentz@aimint.net.
Also, you can check out the following blurb about the Bentzes at the Africa Inland Mission website.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Here is a Funny (If you are a Republican)
Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?' She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'
Her parents beamed.
'Wow! What a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'
She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'
I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'
Her parents still aren't speaking to me.
I Think John Piper Might Know Something About This
And here is the transcript:
Some of you may have little or no experience with what I mean by preaching. I think it will help you listen to my messages if I say a word about it.
What I mean by preaching is expository exultation.
Preaching Is Expository
Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God's word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it.
The preacher's job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people's lives.
The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can't see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God's word.
The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will
* make your spiritual bones more like steel,
* double the capacity of your spiritual lungs,
* make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
* and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn't even know existed.
Preaching Is Exultation
Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what's in the Bible, and the people do not simply try understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied.
Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit.
My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you. (The devil could do that for his own devious reasons.) My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That's one of the differences between a sermon and a lecture.
Preaching Isn't Church, but It Serves the Church
Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don't have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other.
One of the purposes of preaching is to equip us for that and inspire us to love each other better.
But God has created the church so that she flourishes through preaching. That's why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:1-2:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.
What to Expect from My Preaching and Why
If you're used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won't find that from what I've just described.
* I preach twice that long;
* I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
* and I am not relaxed.
I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there.
That's what I mean by preaching.
Do You Preach a Good Sermon?
8 Qualities of a Good SermonI asked people on Twitter to share the characteristics of what they thought comprised a good sermon. I compiled their helpful thoughts and came up with 8 qualities.
1. Gospel-centered
Leads to the cross and trust/surrender in Jesus. Uses the Scriptures to unearth the heart not behavior. Bringing people to repentance Did Christ need to die for this to be true? Having the main thrust of the passage explained & applied in a way that grips and changes me Missional/Evangelistic2. Bible-based, exegetically-sound (Intelligent but not academically arrogant)
3. Empowered by the Holy Spirit
4. Preached through a passionately changed manDisplaying honesty and authenticity Inspirational (not just informational) Challenging and encouraging Humbly and compassionately Engaging (not boring) Contextualized Winsome
5. Relationally-connected6. Simple, memorable and concise with clarity of thought
Answers the question, "So, now what?"
7. Bible-generated points of application8. Leads to the worship of Jesus
Preaching with Smoke, Fire, Blood and Water
Kevin Bruursema, Location and Teaching Pastor at New Life Community Church in Chicago offered these nuggets on preaching in an email to me.
Smoke
Good preaching sets an aroma/atmosphere/environment that opens the way for the voice of God.Fire
Good preaching has the fire of living passion and illumination. Fire is an element that can be harnessed for good use; can be used to destroy evil things; Fire can also hurt good people if used improperly. Fire illumines and gives insightBlood
Good preaching only really happens if the preacher is bleeding his own blood with his message. He's suffering the truth in his own life and it lives through him. Good preaching has to flow from a preacher who is being cleansed with Christ's blood through repentance and obedience.Water
Good preaching brings refreshing, restoration and life. It brings renewal and resurrection.
Is Your Church a Dealership?
Both General Motors and Chrysler have announced that up to 25% of their dealerships will not have their franchises renewed. Reasons cited were:
- Some dealers did not carry the full brand lineup. Chrysler wants dealers who carry their entire line from trucks to cars to Jeeps.
- Some dealers also carried competitors’ brands. That’s pretty common in smaller communities where one dealership might carry brands and models most suited to their market.
- Most of these dealers under-performed. Chrysler said that 25% accounted for only 15% of its total sales.
- Some brands are being discontinued. Wouldn’t want to be a Pontiac dealer right now, would you? Also, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab are on the chopping block one way or another at GM.
But what if we applied that same criteria to churches? Would your church be in business next week?
Some churches don’t carry the full lineup. Many prefer to emphasize only the spiritual side of the faith, while leaving off any attempt at physical ministry. Others are just the opposite, with lots of social programs, but little in the way of evangelism and discipleship. You get the picture. Should these churches keep their doors open?
Some churches carry the competitor’s brands, too. Okay, we’ve got to tread carefully here, but I’m thinking particularly about Fred Phelps’ church, Westboro Baptist. They spew hate and venom towards any and everyone at any opportunity they can get. They would be the extreme example, but other churches also help the “competition” by either not living the difference Christ makes or by taking a stand in an unloving manner.
Some churches under-perform. GM and Chrysler use an objective criteria to weed out the under-performing dealers — sales numbers. But, some churches also under-perform in attendance, missions, programs, and outreach. What should happen to these churches? I have often contended here that we need to measure more than attendance, especially in small churches; but, even when measuring other factors some churches aren’t cutting it. What should they do?
Some brands are being discontinued. Denominational identity is fading, as are a host of other emphases that once were very popular. Remember the 1970s charismatic movement, or spiritual gifts surveys? Lots of “brands” come and go, and if a church is heavily invested in one narrow perspective, it may find itself out of business in a changing culture.
Fortunately, God is not GM or Chrsyler and churches aren’t dealerships. Churches tend to rise and decline in an organizational life cycle which can be accelerated by forces outside the church. But even if we aren’t automotive dealership managers, it might help us to take an inventory of effectiveness periodically. We might be either surprised or horrified at the result. What do you think?
Dwelling in the Gospel
Four principles guide our calling in Chicago: Longevity, Movement, Dwelling, and Thriving. Last night we discussed Dwelling. Below are some notes from that session.
SYNOPSIS
God’s people dwell.Followers of Jesus Christ imitate Him by leaving their places of comfort and security, and dwelling among those who don’t know Him.
PRINCIPLES
1. We dwell in the world to imitate and glorify Jesus (John 1:14; Matthew 5:13-16).
2. Effective dwelling in the world is predicated on dwelling first in Jesus (John 15:4-16; 2 John 1:9).
3. Dwelling often requires relinquishing of personal preference (Acts 16:3; Romans 14:20-21).
4. Dwelling and tribalism cannot co-exist (Matthew 9:11-13).
5. Dwelling precedes Thriving and Longevity (Jeremiah 29:1-14).
PRINCIPLES FOR GOSPEL COMMUNITY
1. A Gospel Community is not a time and a place, it is a group of people.
2. A Gospel Community is not a series of events, it is life together.
3. A Gospel Community is not a closed circle of friends, but an inviting, open community.
4. A Gospel Community shares the gospel not religion.
Timmis Tweets
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … buying from local shops.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … frequenting a local coffee shop or pub.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … playing for a local sports team.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … always tipping generously in local restaurants.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … being the kind of neighbour everyone wants to have as a neighbour.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … volunteering at a local charity shop along with a couple of others from church.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … doing ordinary things in community.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … opening your home to, and sharing your food with others.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … walking the same route to work at the same time or catching the same train each day.
- Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … we do EVERYTHING for the sake of the gospel!
High Fidelity Christianity has Dual Fidelities
Dual Fidelity
Evangelicals are called to a dual fidelity: faithfulness to the gospel word and faithfulness to the gospel community. The gospel word creates the gospel community; the gospel community displays and declares the gospel word.
In the contemporary scene, people and movements tend towards polarization on this issue. It's often those who are solid on the gospel word who are flabby on gospel community. Likewise, those who elevate community tend to downplay the word.
But there are dangers facing those of us who want to be true to that dual fidelity. As we move towards the nurture and development of vibrant and attractive gospel communities, we must avoid certain pitfalls to prevent us from damaging a truly good thing.
In a series of short blogs, I'll highlight some of these pitfalls. The aim is not to scare us away from gospel community, but to make it even sweeter when we get into it.
Pitfall #1
The Gospel Saves... Not Community
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul gives a summary of the gospel (Rom. 1:3-4), which he then later (Rom. 1:16) describes as the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. The gospel that saves is the proclamation that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the risen Lord of the world. It is a summons to the whole world to submit to him.
Every time Paul preached Christ crucified and risen, he did so confidently and expectantly because he knew that was the means by which God saved his people.
If the gospel saves because it is God's ordained method of rescuing the lost, then:
- You and I don't
- Methods and personalities don't
- Structures and systems don't
Inquiring Minds...
Our danger comes not through actively rejecting the gospel, but in terms of our assumptions being demonstrated by our practice. What we can't do is let our focus on community (as important as that is) lull us into thinking that all we need to do is expose people to it, and hey presto, they're with us.
That might happen of course, but it won't mean they're Christians. According to Peter, it is our corporate life that invites people to ask for the reason for the hope that we have (1 Pe.3:15). There has to be something inexplicable about our gospel community that causes people to inquire. We then have the opportunity to speak the gospel word, for it is through that, and that alone, that God saves.
Repent of Your Religion
This article comes from the Christian Post reported by Lillian Kwon. There is a difference between Christianity and Religion. I don't want Religion.
Religion may be choking the growth of Christianity in America.
It's not so much postmodernism that many Christians lament of, or the "harder hearts" of the younger generation, or a less interested God that's causing more and more pews to be empty. Rather, the culprit seems to be religion, as one Durham, N.C., pastor pointed out.
"Religion seems to choke out the Gospel among God's people," J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church, told hundreds of pastors at Advance, a conference on the resurgence of the local church.
And until Christians repent of religion, no program, energy, or strategy will help them to grow, Greear said Friday.
Greear, 36, helped grow The Summit (originally Homestead Heights Baptist Church) from 400 people to some 3,000 and is continually reaching people from throughout the Triangle area. He doesn't claim to be an expert at church "revitalization" but he says he knows there are some things that have to happen in order for a church to revitalize around the Gospel.
And looking around the churches in his community and across the Bible Belt where churchgoers are getting fewer and older, he sees people asking "why?"
Why is God not moving? What is it about us? Greear posed.
Citing what Jesus reprimanded over 2,000 years ago, Greear said religion is keeping Christians from effectively carrying out God's will.
"In religion, there's no passion for God, there's no hunger to know Him," the Summit pastor said.
For "religious people," Christianity becomes more of a checklist of duties and behaviors – such as small group involvement, volunteering, taking a mission trip, and reading the Bible.
"That's what religion does. It reduces God to a set of duties," Greear noted.
In addition to substituting love for God for religious ritual, religious people often elevate secondary matters – such as dress code, alcohol, politics, taking care of the earth – above a love for God.
"We got churches that are filled with people who think they're going to heaven because they don't cuss, or drink bear, or because they vote Republican," he said.
"The tragedy is is our emphasis on those things has kept us from calling them to real repentance."
The secondary traditions are important, but Greear noted that they've often replaced "the real thing."
"Anytime we preach a Gospel that leaves people thinking about what they're supposed to do for God and not what God has done for them, we have preached a false Gospel," he said to some applause.
Other characteristics of religious people, the young pastor listed, include seeking recognition and praise from people and elevating religious ritual over love for others.
"Religious people have a lot of rules but they don't have love," Greear said, adding that they are usually angry, judgmental and more concerned with winning an argument.
While religion makes one selfish and self-focused, the Gospel is about overwhelming love, he pointed out.
"One of the reasons we're so ineffective to people outside of Christianity [is] it appears we're trying to show them that we're better than they are," he said. "They know we're not."
Urging the pastors to return to a love for the Gospel, Greear called them to repentance – not of sin but of religion.
My Preaching Could Kill
It's possible that your preaching is killing your church plant.
Don't freak out. This is the Resurgence, after all. We are absolutely committed to the powerful, masculine, authoritative preaching of God's Word. I'm not going to ask you to trade preaching for sharing, prayer labyrinths, or finger painting, but I am going to argue that your teaching style must fit the size dynamics of your church in order to be effective.
You're Not Preaching to Thousands
Preachers like Piper, Keller, Driscoll, and Chandler speak to thousands each week, and it's great to learn from those guys. But if you're trying to preach like those guys, you're probably making a mistake. Because let's be honest: you're not preaching to thousands.
I spoke with a church planter recently who couldn't understand why his core group of 30 wasn't bringing anyone to church. Answer? Because it's awkward to sit in a room with a few dozen people and get yelled at through a big sound system! It just doesn't fit the environment. I met another guy a few years ago (a Baptist brother, stereotypically) who was setting up a big wooden pulpit in his living room every week so he could preach to his core team of seven people.
Confusing the Practice with the Mode of Preaching
These well-meaning men have confused the practice of preaching with a particular mode of preaching. To preach is to authoritatively communicate the word of God. The normal mode of preaching in larger churches is to stand before the people, Bible open, with a microphone and a message.
But you can also preach sitting on a stool among 20 or 30 people. You can even preach from the couch in your living room if you have a core team of seven. You shouldn't ignore God's call to "preach the word" (2 Tim 4:2), but you should contextualize your preaching for the size dynamics of your church, especially if you ever want your church to grow.
Tailor Preaching to the Size of Your Church
People have an innate sense of what "fits" in a certain setting. You don't expect arena rock at a coffeehouse. Similarly, you don't expect a pulpit and lots of yelling in a small church plant. What will grow your church in the early stages is not the formality or power of your preaching, but rather how accessible and engaging it is.
Tailor your preaching for the size dynamics of your church. Think of venues where 25 to 75 people gather—coffee shops, college classes, house-show concerts—and then aim for that sort of feel.
Engage the audience in dialogue by asking questions, inviting feedback, and answering objections. Build your sermons around missional conversations you're having during the week. Three things will happen: non-Christians will feel honored and welcomed; Christians will learn how to have authentic gospel dialogue with outsiders; and your church will grow.
Preach Like Spurgeon When Your Church Gets Bigger
Here's a good rule of thumb (don't make it a law, but take it for what it's worth): if you have less than 80 people in your church, you shouldn't be preaching in the same way as the guys you podcast. I know Spurgeon is your hero, but don't worry, you can preach like him when your church gets bigger. For now, restrain your inner Whitefield and preach in a way that fits your context.
And hey, Baptist dude: if you wonder why your church hasn't outgrown your living room yet, I might have an answer.
Some Tips for Hiring at Your Church
“Never Hire Your Mama”
by Dan ReilandKing Asa fired his grandmother. That’s a rough day in the palace I don’t care you are! Read the story in I Kings 15:9-15.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
Yup, he “deposed” (to remove from office or position, esp. high office) Grammy Maacah! The best way to prevent a nightmare like this is to hire well. 80% of all difficult staffing issues are covered if you hire well.
I’ve made my mistakes over the years, and a few were costly. But I’ve learned and developed the art of hiring. No one bats 100% but the following hiring maxims will make your life easier and your staff more enjoyable and productive.
1. Never hire anyone you would avoid on your day off.
Chemistry is a big deal. Life is short, you need to enjoy the people you spend significant amounts of time with. Give yourself permission to hire and fire with that in mind. Hiring based heavily on chemistry can feel counter-intuitive when you are considering a person of high character and high competence. In other words, not hiring because you don’t connect well may seem dumb. It’s not. Let me be blunt. If you don’t like someone, eventually, over the long haul, both of you will become less effective, (competence.) If you then continue to take a paycheck that’s about character! I’m not suggesting that you refrain from hiring someone because of a little personality quirk, that’s what makes us all human and frankly interesting. I’m talking about basic chemistry… do you like being around the person or not?2. Hire slow.
Take your time. It’s far better to have an open position and endure that pressure than it is to hire the wrong person. I have waited months for many hires, and nearly two years for one senior level position. In all cases it was the right thing. Always call references. Ask the references for more references and call them. Testing slows the process down, but is a good idea. While you don’t want to put someone in a box, many tests provide helpful insights. One of my favorites is the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, but I recommend that you contact a couple of the best therapists / psychologists in your area to get their advice. And speaking of tests, I strongly recommend running a criminal background check on all hires. You’d be surprised! (Check with your attorney on this first. Different states have different rulings.)3. Never lower your standards.
Don’t let desperation push you. When your desperation becomes high, your standards become low. I know how it goes. The position is open for seemingly too long. God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers - when in fact He may be protecting you from a bad hire. And, you just want to get it done! I know. In almost all these cases, you begin to gradually drop your standards. You think to yourself, “This person isn’t exactly the right person, but then again, no one is perfect.” And so you begin down the road to mediocrity. Stick to your original hiring criteria. That person is out there. Find them.4. Invest in growth over administration.
This is a tough one. We are all tempted to beef up our systems by increasing our administrative and support staff. That’s one way to help keep the organization crisp and efficient. Over-hiring administrative staff is also one of the best ways to kill an organization. A comfortable and smooth-running bureaucracy never grows an organization. OK, the word bureaucracy is a little over-the-top. But I want to paint a clear picture for you. If you attempt to remove normal ministry tension by making all systems smooth and easy, you are headed down a dangerous road. Creativity and innovation will be limited. All growing organizations experience tension. That’s normal. The key is to understand the difference between a tension to be managed and a problem to be solved. It is always wiser and a far better investment to put your first staffing dollars into new staff members who contribute to the literal growth of the church. (I’m not talking about financial raises for existing administrative staff, I’m referring to hiring new staff members.)5. Figure out who they are under pressure.
A good percentage of church leadership is neither difficult nor complicated. It’s exhausting because of the relational elements, but not rocket-science. You keep good relationships, and make the right decisions at the right time for the right reasons. But the moment pressure shows up, everything changes. Under pressure (all growing churches are under pressure, and large growing churches experience lots of pressure) what was relatively routine becomes difficult and what was simple enough becomes complicated. It’s critical to assess and have a thorough knowledge of each new hire’s ability to thrive under pressure. From reference calls to asking a question in an interview like: “What would you think if I told you this interview was not going well?” Give them a tough case study to solve or visit their church and ask them to let you in on one of the problems they currently are attempting to solve to let you take a look and talk with them about it. Do whatever it takes to know their ability and capacity under pressure.6. Ask brilliant questions.
The education system tells you there is no such thing as a stupid question. Yes there is. There are lots of stupid questions and its part of your job to not waste time by asking them. Here’s the secret, it’s not the question itself that is stupid or brilliant. It’s who you ask it to, at the moment you ask, in that certain context and for what reason. That’s what makes a question brilliant or not. We all have lists of questions. I have a long list too. I have books full of interview questions. That’s just busy work. The art of brilliant question-asking includes timing, context, purpose, assessment and what new question the answer cultivates.7. Pay well, but don’t buy the employee.
This is another tough one. One strategy says don’t talk about the salary until the very end of the process. Find their heart and know their calling first. Another strategy says put the salary on the table up front and make it clear from the beginning. Both have merit. You don’t want to get so emotionally deep into the process that you end up paying too much for the position, and yet you do want to pay well with a generous spirit. I think the bottom line is that no one is so good that you should feel obligated to offer a salary that makes you uneasy. We all want to hire eagles, but there are guidelines to follow. Not rules to bow to, but guidelines to keep wise structures in balance. Bottom line… be willing to walk away!8. Interview outside the office when you can
Especially when it comes to more senior level staff, don’t do all your interviewing in the office. Even if you just get out to a restaurant or a Starbucks, it’s important to spend time in normal and lifestyle environments. Then pay attention to how the person responds. I’ve interviewed in environments from baseball games to racing boats on a lake. One interview was in the middle of the jungle in Sri Lanka! You will always learn more about the person in those settings. You don’t have to get weird about it, but you get the idea. One of my favorite things is to toss them the keys and let them drive the car. That’s always revealing.9. Don’t hire competency when insecurity comes with it.
No amount of competency overcomes insecurity. I can usually smell insecurity from a mile away. In a young staff member, that’s not always bad. Everyone has a little insecurity, but it’s an unbelievably dangerous combination to have a highly gifted and talented person who is also insecure. They can’t help themselves, they will implode in time. Insecure people are easily offended, they make it all about them, and they usually want the spotlight thought they will say they don’t. My sincere caution to you is if you suspect you are talking with an insecure leader, thank them, pick up the check, and call it a day.10. Don’t hire for today.
When I first started as an XP (Executive Pastor) I made this mistake several times. I assessed and chose a person who could handle the job as it currently was. Big mistake. They may do a good job for the first few months, but as soon as the job grows to a size and scope in which they are over their head - you’re in trouble. Always hire for the job at the next level. Picture the position at the next click up and hire someone with at least that much capacity.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Bible Study: Matthew 21:33-46
"Renting...it sucks." - Dave Taylor
There is a tenuous relationship between renters and landlords.
- renters and landlords view the property differently
- renters don't take care of the property the same as the landlord would
- renters are not always what they appear to be in their interview or on their application
The Characters in the Parable (as shared by group):
Owner: God
Vineyard: the Kingdom, Israel, people of God, the world, religious leaders
Tenants: religious leaders, Pharisees, temple beaurocracy
Servants: prophets
Son: Jesus
According to any law, would tenants who kill the heir to the property be able to inherit that property? Probably not-they would be evicted and jailed.
Jesus seems to indicate that the vineyard will be taken away from wicked tenants and given to someone who will produce fruit.
What kind of tenants are we? We will be held accountable to what we have been entrusted with. This is certain.
The owner has provided everything necessary for the tenants to render good service-There is no excuse for poor or insufficient work.
We have have an opportunity to have a relationship with the owner.
Jesus Christ is the "senior pastor" of every church. We are the "under shepherds". We cannot do anything by ourselves in our churches. We must work under the authority of the "senior pastor".
How did the tenants arrive at the place where they were killing the heir? Likely, they forgot. They started working and likely forgot. Eventually they assumed that they owned the land and the fruit. Two mistakes were made: they disrespected the Son and they didn't yield any fruit.
The redemptive aspect: God WILL take care of His vineyard-though He has demonstrated amazing restraint. There is hope that we also will be shown the patience that He has shown the tenants and redeem us from our situations.
Jesus was a threat to the agenda of the religious leaders. Is He a threat to us in our ministries?
How has your church received the Son? What can be done to give Jesus a better reception in our churches?
Friday, May 8, 2009
Bigger than You
Below are both the 17 big ideas and the 17 final questions of the 18 chapter book (above is the table of contents). It's worth your time to work through this list. It's worth your time to work through the whole book.
You were created to be part of something big. What is the big thing that you are living for right now?
Sin causes us to talk about more, but to settle for less. What is the "less" that tends to capture your attention?
Since sin has damaged everything, God calls us to be concerned about everything. Have you treated the size of God's grace as if it were no longer than the size of your personal concerns?
Each of our lives is shaped by the war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self. What earth-bound treasures and anxiety-bound needs tend to control you and your responses to life?
You and I are always being civilized and civilizing others into the culture of some kind of kingdom. In what ways do you try to get the people around you to follow the rules of your kingdom of self?
The most dangerous thing about the kingdom of self is how easily it masquerades as the kingdom of God. In your everyday life right now, where are you telling yourself that you are living for God when you are really living for yourself?
Sin causes all of us to shrink the size of our lives to the size of our lives. Has the energy of your life been expended in the narrow world of personal wants, needs, and concerns?
Big kingdom living mean living with Christ at the center of everything I think, desire, say, and do. What tend to compete with Christ for the center of your world?
In calling us to die, Christ is actually rescuing us from death and giving us real life. In your everyday situations and relationships, where are you finding it hard to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ?
At street level, big kingdom living is Jesus-focused living. What is the focus of your life's energies and intentions?
This side of eternity, there should be a dissatisfaction in all of us with the way things are. What are the things that make you groan?
God calls us to the vertically interactive lifestyle of living in moment-by-moment harmony with him. Where in your life are you tempted to write your own music rather than making harmonious music with the king?
Big kingdom living is all about the humility of seeking forgiveness and the grace of granting it. Do you find joy in the liberating lifestyle of seeking forgiveness?
Life in the kingdom of God is like waiting for the love of your life to return. Where in your life are the "other lovers" that compete with your love for Christ?
Jesus calls us to offer him everything so that we can be free from the things that have a hold on us. Whose kingdom are you making sacrifices for right now?
Life in the big kingdom is all about being good and angry. Right now, where do you live every day, whose kingdom does your anger serve?
True hope, the kind that will never disappoint, is never hope in a thing, but hope in a person. Where do you tend to look for daily hope?
Getting Medieval
Surely evangelicals who are sampling these medieval wares would benefit by moving beyond a piecemeal, “consumer” approach to medieval Christianity into a more systematic, in-depth study. Beneath the surface of now-trendy medieval practices, and amidst that era's wrong turnings and corruptions, lies a rich vein of spiritual, intellectual, and practical resources. I can think of at least nine facets of medieval faith and life that we can stand to learn from today:
1. their willingness to engage in spiritual disciplines,
2. their theologically grounded devotional and even "mystical" practices,
3. their high valuation of tradition handed down in texts,
4. their passionate search for theological knowledge (fides quaerens intellectum—"faith seeking understanding"),
5. their moral seriousness, expressed for example in the lists of "deadly sins" and "cardinal virtues,"
6. their adaptation of classical learning to Christian theology (which paved the way for the birth of modern science and continues to provide a model for Christ-culture engagement today),
7. their deep affection for the doctrines of creation and incarnation, issuing (for example) in many profoundly spiritual treasures of Western art and literature,
8. their high valuation on eternity over temporal life, and the "art of dying well" (ars moriendi) that developed from this commitment, and
9. their insistence on works of charity (fides caritate formata—"faith formed by love").
Humble Pastors
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Uncommon Prayer Requests To Make Common
- Advancement of God’s Kingdom (Matt. 6:9)
- Explicitly that God’s will be done (Matt. 6:9)
- Thank God for each other being together for the Gospel (Phil. 1:3-5; 1, Thess. 1:2)
- God would open the door for us to share the Gospel (Col. 4:2-4)
- We would share the Gospel boldly (Acts 4:29, Eph. 6:19)
- We would not be tempted (Matt. 26:41)
- Our faith would not fail as we live in the world (Luke 22:32)
- Forgive each other if there are grudges or offenses (Mark 11:25, Col. 3:13)
- For enemies and those persecuting you in any way (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28)
- We would grow in wisdom and knowledge of Jesus for God’s glory (Philemon 6, Eph. 1:17)