The Cruciform Life

New Site for The Cruciform Life Blog

2008-08-03T22:39:00.003-05:00

Thanks for stopping by. I will no longer be posting at this site.

Please visit the new Cruciform Life Blog.

Be sure to change any links you may have to this blog to match the new one. All of the archived posts from this site have been transferred to the new one. If you are a subscriber, please go to the new blog and subscribe there.

Thanks for reading...I hope you'll come visit me at the new place. Come tell me what you think of the new look designed by my friend Denton.

The Successful Church

2008-08-01T09:39:00.002-05:00

Milton makes an important point about success and church. The following quote will get you started...

North Americans are fond of success, and Christians here are prone to think of how to make our congregations successful. We measure success with different numbers: doors knocked, baptisms done, new members welcomed, service rendered, dollars donated, posteriors planted in pews. Οur standards of measurement vary, but no one seems to doubt that the church ought to be successful.

Isn't it interesting, then, that the New Testament never uses the word “success” in relation to the church?

Click here to finish reading Milton's brief comments.

[HT: Transforming Sermons]

Who's In Charge Here?

2008-07-26T00:05:00.001-05:00

"The Scriptures are clear that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Jesus is the Apostle who plants a church. Jesus is the Leader who builds the church. Jesus is the Senior Pastor and Chief Shepherd who rules the church. And it is ultimately Jesus who closes churches down when they have become faithless or fruitless. Therefore, it is absolutely vital that a church loves Jesus, obeys Jesus, imitates Jesus, and follows Jesus at all times and in all ways, according to the teaching of his Word."

~ Mark Driscoll in On Church Leadership

Missionaries to Suburbia

2008-07-24T19:45:00.003-05:00

I'm a church planter in a growing suburb of Northwest Knox County, TN. I guess you could say that my family and the families of Riverside Church are missionaries to suburbia.

Here are a few blogs that offer thoughts on suburban missiology:

The Suburban Christian

sub-text

Missio Dei Suburbia

Little Hearts

2008-07-23T11:18:00.005-05:00

Little eyes of blue and locks of gold
Who would ever know that her home was cold?
Her daddy's gone, and mommy just cries
What is the truth when you've grown up with lies?

Daddy, Daddy, come home tonight
What do you see in that other lady?
Mommy, Mommy, hold me tight
Will your love be yes, no, or maybe?
Will somebody love me, 'cause I can't find it here
I'm surrounded by this uncommon fear

Who's gonna love little hearts?
Who's gonna love the little hearts?

A little boy is bruised, both his head and his heart
Where will it end? Why did it ever start?
Alone in a corner, uncovered and cold
No excuse for abuse of the body and soul

Daddy, Daddy, why do you fight?
And why do you drink away your life?
Mommy, Mommy, why do you cry
for your battered son when you're a battered wife?
Will somebody hold me, 'cause I won't be held here
except by this uncommon fear

Who's gonna love little hearts?
'Cause little hearts have great big hurts
Who's gonna love little hearts?
Who's gonna love the little hearts?

Sixteen years old, a child carries her own
The boy she loves has left her all alone
She's made her choice, but the baby she'll lose
Never has a voice, nor a chance to choose

Daddy, Daddy, why do you run?
Do you understand the damage you've done?
Mommy, Mommy, somebody cares
and there's a good home for me out there
Somebody will love me, someone has room
Should a mother's womb become her baby's tomb?

Who's gonna love little hearts?
'Cause little hearts have great big hurts.
Who's gonna love little hearts?
Who's gonna love the little hearts?

Jesus loves little hearts.
Jesus died for little hearts.
Shouldn't you and I love little hearts?

[©1989 Jimmy Davis]

Making The Bible Real To Our Kids

2008-07-21T19:42:00.005-05:00

A challenge to parents from the The Shepherd Press Blog:

Moses wants the Israelites to take the word of God to heart....He urges them to be dominated by God’s word. He warns them against treating these words as idle, empty words. The words of God are life to the people of God. Parents, this is where it starts. Is the word of God your life? Before you can expect your children to respond to God, you must lead the way by treasuring the words of God as your very life. God’s word is life (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Parenting without this dependence upon the Word will leave you exhausted and your children exasperated. In the next few posts we will look at the contrast between idle words and words of life in parenting. If you are going to effectively shepherd your children, God’s Word must be life to you.

Read the whole post here. It's worth it...and it looks like this is the start of a series.

The Church Is 'God's Demonstration Plot'

2008-07-20T14:11:00.003-05:00

"The church is missionary by nature because God has sent it on a mission in the world under the leading of the Spirit. It is to bear witness to God’s redemptive reign. Just as God is a missionary God, so the church is to be a missionary church. It is to live fully within the active, redemptive, kingdom reign of God in the world as it is led and taught by the Spirit. It is to be a new community that expresses both the intent of creation design and the aspirations of re-creation as it anticipates the new heavens and new earth…

Growing up on a farm in rural Iowa provided me with and object lesson for understanding the church’s being missionary by nature. Each county in the state employed an extension agent to work with farmers. These extension agents were usually university graduates with degrees in agriculture. As new farming technologies, seeds, and fertilizers became available, the extension agents introduced these to farmers. My dad, like many farmers, was often hesitant to accept the innovations. One of the methods extension agents used to gain acceptance of these innovations was demonstration plots.

A strip of land, usually along a major roadway, was selected as a demonstration plot, where a new farming method, seed, or fertilizer was used to raise a crop. It was not uncommon for farmers to remain skeptical throughout the summer as the crops grew. But there was always keen interest in the fall when the crop was harvested. Invariably, the innovation performed better than the crops in the surrounding fields. By the next year, many farmers, including my dad, would be using the innovation as if it had been their idea all along. The church is God’s demonstration plot in the world. Its very existence demonstrates that His redemptive reign has already begun. Its very presence invites the world to watch, listen, examine, and consider accepting God’s reign as a superior way of living.”

- Craig Van Gelder, The Essence of the Church, pp. 98-100

Reformed, How I Love To Proclaim It

2008-07-18T08:46:00.006-05:00

Ray Ortland has a pastoral word of exhortation for folks like me who are theologically (and happily) Reformed:

I believe in the sovereignty of God, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Solas of the Reformation, I believe that grace precedes faith in regeneration. Theologically, I am Reformed. Sociologically, I am simply a Christian – or at least I want to be. The tricky thing about our hearts is that they can turn even a good thing into an engine of oppression. It happens when our theological distinctives make us aloof from other Christians. That’s when, functionally, we relocate ourselves outside the gospel and inside Galatianism...

Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

Ortland's got me thinking. There are all kinds of other good doctrines and practices that I use to elevate myself above and alienate myself from other genuine believers, if not externally, at least in my heart: the practice of spiritual disciplines (especially the ones I practice); philosophy of ministry (Is your church attractional or missional? I have my doubts about those who aren't like me.); size of church ("I'm not into 'big church' anymore" has come out of my mouth too many times); translation of the Bible (You use what?!); style of worship music...and the list goes on.

I'm reminded of that great hymn "Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It!" While the distinctive beliefs and practices that I listed above are legitimate for me to have, I must be careful not to love to proclaim my love for them above the Gospel. Think of how odd it would sound to sing...

Reformed, how I love to proclaim it
Reformed by the blood of the Lamb
Reformed by His infinite mercy
Cal-vi-nist forever I am!

[second verse...sounds even worse]
Mis-sio-nal and so happy in Keller
No language my rapture can tell
I know that the right way to do church
With me doth continually dwell

Too often my heart and life are singing "Reformed, how I love to proclaim it!" or "Missional, how I love to proclaim it!" or "House Church, how I love to proclaim it!" Again, these are good values to have and hold out to others, but if I allow my passion for those things to separate me from brothers and sisters who are truly redeemed and love to proclaim it, then I'm guilty of Galatianism. I need to hear Paul say, "For in Christ Jesus, neither [reformed, missional, house-church, etc.] nor [non-reformed, attractional, big-church, etc.] counts for anything, but only a new creation in whom faith expresses itself through love" (see Galatians 5:6, 6:15).

I want the joy and song of my heart to be about the Father redeeming me by the blood of the Lamb so that "His child and forever I am." But, sadly there are still other counterfeit joys fighting to be my song.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

[HT: Justin Taylor; also read all of Ray Ortland's "Truly Reformed" here.]

Serious About The Gospel?

2008-07-15T07:06:00.006-05:00

I've mentioned before that T. M. Moore sends out a daily email devotional called Crossfigell ("cross vigil") in which he quotes a Celtic saint and a related passage of Scripture followed by his own rich meditation on both. I'd encourage you to sign up to receive this free daily devotional at T. M.'s website My Paruchia.

I thought today's devotional "Serious About the Gospel?" was a great sample to share with you:

His mother in anguish begged him not to leave her. But he said, "Hast thou not heard, 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me'?" He begged his mother, who placed herself in his way and held the door, to let him go. Weeping and stretched upon the floor, she said she would not permit it. Then he stepped across the threshold and asked his mother not to give way to her grief; she would never see him again in this life, but wherever the way of salvation led him, he would go.

- Jonas on Columbanus, departing for Bangor, Irish, 7th century

"Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

- Matthew 10.37-39

For most of us it never comes to this. We're not forced to make the choice between pleasing our parents or wives or children rather than following the Lord's leading in some particular direction. Columbanus literally stepped over his mother to follow the Lord's call to take up the work of the Gospel. In most cases, I suspect, our loved ones are happy, and maybe even proud, for us to engage in our ministry activities. Let us give thanks to God for this and rejoice in His gracious provision. Our deterrents are rather more subtle. But they are just as determined as Columbanus' mother to prevent us from being serious about the Gospel. We love our sleep rather than more time in prayer and meditation. We love our friends too much to risk losing them over the Gospel. We love our comfort, our diversions, our prosperity and ease, and the security of our jobs, and rather than risk any of these, we reserve our Gospel activities for "church" times and place, and we let our spiritual disciplines languish. We're so busy looking for life that we're actually in danger of losing it. The cross awaits us daily, stretched out across the threshold of our door. Many of us give it a pat as we go, like the members of a football team as they leave their locker room for the playing field pat a good luck mantra posted overhead. Others of us step over it, thinking nothing of leaving the cross at home, where, we suppose, it belongs. Yet the cross beckons us to take it up and bear it throughout the day, in every situation, at every opportunity, whatever the cost. When the neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, markets, and other public spaces of this land begin to be filled with cross-bearing believers, then we'll see the kind of revival that followed wherever men like Columbanus journeyed. Let us each reflect on the extent to which we are truly serious about the Gospel and the calling of the Lord.

-- T. M. Moore

Wise Words About the 'Whys' of Suffering

2008-07-15T06:57:00.003-05:00

John Piper on why God doesn't let us in on all His reasons for our pain.

Tim Keller on the difference between theological and pastoral answers to the 'why?' of suffering.

[HT: Desiring God Blog and Alex Chediak]

Franchising the Church

2008-07-14T09:43:00.004-05:00

The Point Blog questions the growing church-franchising phenomenon. (Be sure to read the Wall Street Journal article mentioned.)

According to this article, many independent evangelical churches are copying Starbucks' marketing and branding strategies to expand their congregations, both in the US and overseas. Now that Starbucks recently announced that it would lay off more than 12,000 of its employees and close more than 600 of its stores, I hope this is a warning to these churches that brand or image doesn’t make one successful.

Read the rest of the post here.

A Quest for More: Chapter Three

2008-07-14T07:38:00.005-05:00

Part Four of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter Three: A Total Disaster

BIG IDEA:

"As his child, when you get up in the morning you awake to a huge kingdom. It courses back through history and extends to before the foundations of the world were set in place. It extends forward in time to endless eternity. It encompasses every location known and unknown, every situation of every kind, every person and every created thing. The goal of this kingdom is the complete restoration of every last thing that was damaged by the fall. You must no longer live for yourself. Grace has led you through the door to something more and better. Grace calls you to shape your living to the contours of this amazing work of restoration." (page 45).

BASIC OUTLINE:

The Fall ruined everything: "What happened in the garden is truly the central catastrophe of human history. It is almost impossible to overstate the hugeness of its significance Here is how big this disaster was (and is) When Adam and Eve fell, the entire cosmos fell with them!" (page 38)

God's original design was gloriously transcendent and cruciform: "People lived in joyful, unafraid, and unashamed community with one another..." and "People lived in heartfelt, loving, obedient worship of God. They worshipped the Creator and managed creation; they didn't give into worshipping creation and trying to manage the Creator" (pp. 38-39).

The present result of the fall is not submission to God and service to others, but the pursuit of self-rule and self-service: "The quest for autonomy will always crush transcendence...Since that horrible moment in the garden, every human being has tended to confuse autonomy with transcendence. The inertia of sin is always away from the Creator and toward ourselves. And let it be known that this is not only the struggle of the unbeliever; it is the struggle of the believer as well. As long as sin still dwells in our hearts, autonomy will war with transcendence" (page 42).

"Because of this there are two things that I must always keep in view: [#1] The ongoing tendency to treat my life as if it were no bigger than my life...Most of us have learned how to celebrate our inclusion in God's great and glorious work, while functionally caring for little that does not directly address us. In doing this we have Christianized our autonomy....even though we are trying to live inside of God's boundaries, we have still manufactured a life where self is at the center." and #2 "We must keep in mind that the fall was a total disaster...it is only when you remember how big the effects of sin are that you will live the way God calls you to live. Here is the logic of living in light of the purposes of God: if sin's devastation is as wide as creation, then the scope of redemption must be just as big. Therefore, we are called to live with the total restoration of creation in view" (pp. 43-44).

SOME FAVORITE (and convicting!) QUOTES:

"We get so excited about the personal benefits of redemption that we lost sight of redemption that we lose sight of redemption's greater goal. Yes, the personal benefits of redemption are an amazing thing, worthy of eternal celebration. But redemption's agenda is not to make our kingdoms successful, but to welcome us to a much bigger, much better kingdom" (page 46).

"Many of you...have settled into a self-focused enjoyment of the good life. You are enjoying what grace has done to your marriage, your partnering, your friendships, and your work life. It has been all too easy for you to miss the point that you were rescued from what was very bad--not just to be part of something good, but amazingly, to be part of something very great." (page 46).

Christian Bloggers as Prophets

2008-07-10T08:38:00.012-05:00

If you've spent much time surfing the Christian blogosphere you've probably noticed that a blogger's bent is often toward what's wrong with the Church and her preaching, practices, worship, and witness. Some have noted that Christian bloggers can be the cyber equivalent of Monday-morning-arm-chair-quarterbacks, second-guessing the ministries and messages of front-line Christians on the field while they bask in the glow of their monitors in the comfort of their mom's basement. I'm sure there is some of this extreme Church-bashing going on out there, but perhaps there is room for rants and raves that are redemptive. A chapter in Dr. Michael D. Williams' Far As The Curse Is Found recently convinced me that the mission and message of Old Testament prophets might also (or should) apply to many Christian bloggers:

Prophets minister in times of crisis, sounding the alarm, warning Israel of impending judgment whenever it has failed to seek the Lord, calling it back to its mission in the world...The prophets are complainers. They rant; they rave; they threaten. The prophets rail against Israel's worship, the monarchy, the cultic institutions, and the general lifestyle of the people. They aim their criticisms at the habits and presumptions, the complacency and waywardness of Israelite society.

A student once asked me why the vast majority of my criticism in lectures targeted the contemporary church and Christian culture rather than the sins of the secular world. I answered that I was merely following sound biblical precedent. The prophets do not expend their critical energies complaining about the militaristic cruelty of the Assyrians. Nor does Jesus deliver scathing rebukes of the easy syncretism of Roman culture. Rather, both level their criticism at Israel, the people whom God had called to be his light within a sin-darkened world (pp. 188-189).

Like the prophets of old, perhaps there are some Christian bloggers who are called to rant, rave, and rail against the Church's worship, institutions, and "the general lifestyle" of her people. Perhaps we need someone who will "aim criticisms at the habits and presumptions, the complacency and waywardness of [Christian] society."

However, the prophet's ministry was not merely one of indictment, but also one of encouragement:

But the fact that the prophets focus on the covenant people of God shows that their complaints and threats have a positive purpose: to call the covenant community back to faithfully obeying the God who had redeemed them by his mighty deeds on their behalf...The problem the prophets address is not some failure inherent in the promises of provisions of God but the failure of Israel to respond rightly to God's gracious initiations. Rather than being characterized by faithfulness and love, rather than being a light to the nations through its embodiment of covenant life, Israel engages in idolatry, gross social injustice, and religious syncretism. There is no shortage of religion and ritual, but the people have forgotten the covenant. They have forgotten why Yahweh had delivered them from Egypt and elected them, why he had given them the land, and why he had given them his law...The situation calls for a policing of Israel's response to the covenant. the prophets assume this role. Thus we might think of them as covenant enforcers (pp. 189, 191).

So also Christian blogger-prophets ought not to merely criticize the Church, but also call the Church "back to faithfully obeying the God who had redeemed them by his mighty deeds [the life, death, and resurrected life of Jesus] on their behalf." Christian bloggers have a unique opportunity to be "gospel enforcers," to preach the good news of the New Covenant to the people in the pews as well as the preachers in the pulpits. God's people must be reminded that the root cause of the Church's failure to live out her calling to be and act like the New Covenant community of Christ is our failure to respond by faith to the New Covenant, the gospel (see Galatians 5:6).

Therefore, the Christian blogger should not insist on innovation in the Church as an organization so much as invite the Church as an organism to return to her first love. Williams reminds us that:

What the prophets denounce is not the institutions of Hebrew religion but rather what the Israelites had come to make of these things...The prophets are not confessional, political, or social innovators. Rather, they serve as heirs and interpreters of a tradition that goes back to Moses and Abraham. They call Israel back to its true character and calling, back to the law, back to the covenant (pp. 190-191).

Too many bloggers decry the practices of the Church as culturally irrelevant, suggesting that the solution to the Church's poor reputation in today's culture is a willingness to blend and bend a little. But, as Ezekiel 36:16-38 suggests, the problem is not that God's people are too different from their neighbors, but that they are not different enough. God's solution was the New Covenant, the promise that through Christ he would transform his people into a community that would bear and bless his name among the nations. so that they might see the difference and be drawn to it. Like Ezekiel, the blogger-prophet must help remind the Church of her true identity as God's beloved covenant people who by his grace flesh out the Royal Law of Love (James 2), serving as bondservants of their King in the place he has put them.

So, to sum up these thoughts, I'm suggesting that these descriptions of the Old Testament prophet might serve as a call for Christian blogger-prophets to speak from God in order...

to point out the waywardness of God's New Covenant community, the Church, and
to point the Church back to heart-rending, life-transforming belief in the New Covenant promises as they are proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ,
being careful not to promote innovative change in the institution as much as proclaim Christ's invitation for the Church to remember their identity as his beloved bondservants.

One last thought: The OT prophets "spoke with divine authority" (Williams, page 194). They knew their message was from God. They did not presume to speak for or from themselves. Even as they rail against corruption and rally the Church to gospel-centeredness, Christian bloggers (including me) must remember Peter's encouragement in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks [or blogs], as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves [Christ and his Bride] by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The Worldview of WALL-E

2008-07-08T08:27:00.004-05:00

I took my family to see WALL-E last night. Great movie! Rather than try to wax eloquent on the depth of meaning in this fun little film, I thought I'd provide some links to the thoughts of others.

WALL-E and Sex (a unique take on the film's message)

WALL-E's Worldview (World Magazine)

The Little Robot That Could (Christianity Today)

WALL-E, Liberalism, and the Human Heart

Enjoy the movie...enjoy these articles and interviews!

Tim Keller's "Prodigal God"

2008-07-05T10:19:00.003-05:00

My friend Tullian Tchividjian asked Tim Keller to explain the title of his new book The Prodigal God. Tullian received this response from Tim:

The word ‘prodigal’ does not appear in the Greek text. It is an English word that has become attached to the parable of the two lost sons in Luke 15. But it is a good, suggestive word that helps us understand the parable’s teaching.

The word ‘prodigal’ is an English word that means recklessly extravagant, spending to the point of poverty, of ‘being in want’ (Luke 15:14.) The dictionaries tell us that the word can be understood in a more negative or a more positive sense. The more positive meaning is to be lavishly and sacrificially abundant in giving. The more negative sense, is to be wasteful and irresponsible in one’s spending. The negative sense obviously applies to the actions of the younger brother in the Luke 15 parable of the two sons. But is there any sense in which God can be called ‘Prodigal’?

Read the rest of Keller's response here.

[HT: On Earth As It Is In Heaven]

Logos Bible Software

2008-07-03T11:27:00.005-05:00

I just added a link on my blog list to the Logos Bible Software Blog.

I've been using this Bible study software for years and have greatly benefited from the Camp Logos training seminar (Levels I and II). This is a powerful study tool that is accessible to the person in the pew, provides artillery for the preacher in the pulpit, and has enough academic muscle for the professor behind the podium.

If you haven't tried it, click on the logo below for a free demonstration:

Facebook and the Image of God

2008-06-29T23:52:00.007-05:00

Ever wonder about the appeal of Facebook and other web-based social networks? Why would millions of people all over the world want to plaster their names and faces, their likes and dislikes, and their current physical, emotional, or spiritual status all over the worldwide web? I confess I am one of them. I started my own Facebook "profile" and began collecting "friends" several years ago when I realized it was the best way to keep up with the college students to whom I was pastor. But in recent months, I've begun to reconnect with people that I haven't seen or talked to in twenty years. Friends from high school and college, folks in their forties like me, have begun to discover Facebook as a way to get in touch with old friends and stay in touch with current ones.

There are plenty of pundits who are wary of this trend, claiming that this is another symptom of the narcissism this generation has apparently contracted. I can't disagree entirely with this theory, but I'd like to suggest that the Facebook phenomenon may have as much to do with human design as it does with human depravity.

There's at least one lesson we can learn from the Facebook craze: We all long to know and be known by others. Yes, at their worst these social network sites can be a mild (sometimes not so mild) form of exhibitionism, but when you get right down to it people just want to be known. I want the people in my world to know me, so I post pictures of my family because they are part of me. I list the books I've read because they have shaped me. I share my favorite quotes because they tell others what I value and believe. I update my status so that others know where I am...literally and figuratively. I want to be known. And I'm not alone.

It is also true that at their worst social network sites can encourage and enable virtual voyeurism. Some people spend too much time following the lives of other people. But let's face it, all of us are fascinated with people aren't we? Ever done some "people-watching" while you're waiting for a plane? And why do we tend to collect so many "friends," and what about that good feeling you get when someone invites you to be their Facebook friend? I want to know others, and so do you.

Certainly my desire to know and be known by others can become obsessive and get out of proportion, but I'm curious to know why the desire is there at all.

I believe it's because I was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). God wants to know and be known by others. Self-revealing and other-relating are part of the nature of who God is. In his helpful little book concerning the street-level impact of the doctrine of the Trinity, Experiencing the Trinity, Darrell W. Johnson writes:

'At the center of the universe is a relationship.' That is the most fundamental truth I know. At the center of the universe is a community. It is out of that relationship that you and I were created and redeemed. And it is for that relationship that you and I were created and redeeemed! And it turns out that there is a three-fold-ness to that relationship. It turns out that the community is a Trinity. The center of reality is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...the doctrine of the the Trinity is not the result of philosophical speculation carried out in ivory towers, cut off from real life. It is the result of ordinary believers trying to make sense of the facts of God's self-revelation--and trying to live in the light of those facts (pp. 37, 39).

Johnson goes on to talk about one of the "everyday consequences" of the doctrine of the Trinity:

First, we know why when relationships go sour, all of life goes sour. We were created in the image and likeness of God...There are many dimensions of God's character we were created to reflect. But chief among them is this 'us-ness' of God. God does not exist alone; and neither do we who are created in God's image. Thus God says of Adam in the garden, 'it is not good for the man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). Why? Because Adam will be lonely, yes. But more importantly because 'Adam alone' is not Adam in the image of God. God is not a solitary God. Adam does not reflect who God is until Adam shares life with Eve...It is because we are created in the image of the Trinity that loneliness is so crushing, that broken relationships are so debilitating, that death is so painful. Lack of loss of relationship violates our essential nature, created to reflect the relational essence of God (pp. 52-53).

Our longing to know others and be known by them is part of our human design that has been twisted by our human depravity. Our involvement in the Facebook community is a reflection of our design for community, but when Facebook becomes a source of knowing and being known that takes precedence over community with the Trinity and unity with His Church (John 17) , then our Facebook-ing is more a reflection of our depravity.

One last thought: God has His own Facebook profile. If you want, you can go there and see the ways in which God has made Himself known to us and through which we are able to know Him as our friend: through Creation (Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:19-20), through the Bible (Psalm 19:7-11, 2 Peter 1:16-21), and most clearly and intimately through Jesus Christ's person (Hebrews 1:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6) and people (John 17:20-23, 1 John 4:11-12).

We desire to know and be known because He first desired to know and be known.

When The Church Is Really Parachurch

2008-06-27T15:00:00.006-05:00

I have a good friend who thinks that what we typically refer to as our "church" is really just a parachurch organization. I tend to agree with him. Here's what he means:

Generally speaking, what we refer to as "the church" is an organization with a paid and volunteer leadership who develop and direct programs in which the members of the organization participate in a particular place or building. (Notice that this definition includes churches of all sizes, from the small, rural church with one bi-vocational pastor to the urban or suburban mega-church with a staff of hundreds.) But biblically speaking, the church is the body of Christ, the people, the organism that lives and moves and has its being within the structure provided by the organization.

Think about it. What do you and I call the place to which we travel for worship on Sundays? Have you ever said something like, "Our church is having VBS this week" or "When is the church going to replace those old choir robes with new ones?" or "Have you been tithing to the church?" or "There sure are a lot of churches in this part of town." True, we could be referring to the group of people who are members of our local body, but it seems all too easy to slip into the mindset that the organization is the church and not the people.

If the people of the church (the organism) are really the church, then the organization of the church as I have defined it is really a parachurch organization. Para- means "alongside" and parachurch is a term that has been given to groups and organizations who "come alongside" the church to aid her in her mission. We typically think of groups like Young Life, Chirstian schools and seminaries, and mission boards as parachurch organizations because they do not claim to be churches, but rather servants of local churches and of the Church at large.

So then, the organization with a paid and volunteer leadership who develop and direct programs in which the members of the organization participate in a particular place or building is really a parachurch organization. The structure that has developed in order to organize the life and activity of the organism is meant to come alongside the people to equip and encourage them to be the church. When we rightly define the people as the church, then it becomes clear that the organization that we commonly call "the church" is really parachurch.

This is an important disctinction to make because as I just mentioned, the purpose of the church organization is to serve the organism. However, all too often we pastors and church leaders treat the organism (the people) as if they exist to serve the organization (leaders and programs).

Why do we feel the need to pressure people to give or give more? Because if they don't give, the organization will not survive and our staff, missionaries, and bills won't get paid. Why do we so easily become numbers-centered and spend so much time and energy figuring out ways to get more people in the pews? Because if they don't come our programs won't run, our paid and volunteer staff will have nothing to do, and people will go to other "churches" whose programs "meet their needs." When the organization begins to depend on the organism to prop up or perpetuate itself, the church (the body, the organism) is in danger of being devoured. What might have begun as a church organism being served by its church organization quickly and subtly becomes a group of people who exist to serve the organization.

I'll give two examples of this organization-devouring-the-organism phenomenon: one broad-brushed and one in which I am the guilty party.

When church growth experts tell us that we must build and maintain "excellent" programs for youth and children because that will attract and keep their parents, I believe we are in danger of sacrificing our children on the altar of church growth. We're using children to get something we really want...their parents in our pews. That's the organism serving the organization.

A personal example: When I was a Middle School Youth Pastor in a large suburban church, I asked a certain couple to join our volunteer team of leaders in the middle school ministry. I wanted them on board because of their love for Jesus and for people. They said no, and in so many words explained that if they joined our team of volunteers they wouldn't have time to lead the weekly Bible study that they had at their home with friends of their middle school son. Yikes! It hit me hard. I was asking them to give up THEIR ministry to teenagers in their own sphere of influence so that they could serve in MY ministry to teenagers. I was asking the organism to serve the organization. What I should have done was ask them how I could help equip and resource them for the ministry that God had given them in their own neighborhood.

I have much to learn and unlearn. These thoughts are in process, not completely settled. I am not saying that the organization is bad or unnecessary, indeed it is necessary and good, but I'll save that thought for another post. However, I am more and more convinced that Jesus has called the organization to serve the organism and that I have spent most of the last 20 years operating the other way. The question becomes: how can the organization of our churches do a better job of coming alongside our people to equip them to do the work of their ministry? Are we willing to sacrifice the perpetuation of our organization in order to better serve the people, the church for whom Jesus sacrificed Himself?

What are your thoughts?

Bible Overview Resources

2008-06-26T12:40:00.016-05:00

I've been teaching a class on a survey of the Bible and have found a few resources that have helped me more effectively communicate the "big picture" of God's Story in the Old and New Testaments.

First, a DVD-ROM called The Bible Overview: How to Understand the Bible as a Whole has excellent PowerPoint presentations that walk you through the major events of both testaments using clear, easy-to-grasp symbols and labels. I appreciate the kingdom-centered approach to the drama of redemption that unfolds in the Bible. Click here to see a sample screens hot of the Complete Picture. The DVD-ROM includes PowerPoint presentations, handouts, leader's guide, and even a PDF version of cards that can be printed, cut out, and used to reproduce the Complete Picture chart on a wall or white board. They've also included picture files that will enable you to make your own PowerPoint slides, so that you can adapt this material to your teaching situation.

This curriculum also includes a PowerPoint presentation on how to read the Bible using what they call the COMA Method. COMA is short hand for the four steps of good Bible study: Context, Observation, Meaning, and Application. I appreciate the emphasis on understanding a passage of Scripture in the Context of the larger story of God's redemptive plan.

This is one of the best tools I've seen for helping people of all ages get a grip on God's overarching Story. Amazingly, this curriculum only costs $25.00.

Second, I would highly recommend Robert Vaughan's God's Big Picture, a short book that follows the kingdom of God theme from cover to cover of the Bible. Vaughan concisely defines the Kingdom of God as "God's People in God's Place under God's rule and blessing," and then traces these themes throughout the Bible.

This book fits perfectly with The Bible Overview curriculum that I mentioned above. I was able to use Vaughan's alliterated divisions of the Story by putting them under the major headings of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration and laying them over the Complete Picture chart as follows:

CREATION
The Pattern of the Kingdom (Creation story)
FALL
The Perished Kingdom (The Fall and Babel)
REDEMPTION
The Promised Kingdom (The Covenant with Abraham)
The Partial Kingdom (The Law and Kings)
The Prophesied Kingdom (The Prophets)
The Present Kingdom (Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus)
RESTORATION
The Proclaimed Kingdom (Pentecost and the Church)
The Perfected Kingdom (Return of Christ; New Heavens and Earth)

Third, if you want to dig a little deeper into this "drama of redemption" I must recommend Dr. Michael D. Williams' Far As the Curse Is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption. Here's a taste:

“In its most basic structure, the Bible follows this dramatic pattern. It has an introduction, a dramatic problem that arises, a resolution to the problem, and a summing up or conclusion. We might refer to these four elements within the biblical storyline as creation, fall, redemption, and consummation…The creation-fall-redemption-consummation storyline is the central theme of Scripture, and it forms the Bible’s overarching literary structure" (page xi).

Fourth, I've found the PowerPoint presentations of Rose Publishing to be useful for helping folks visualize biblical content and Bible lands. Each PowerPoint CD-ROM also includes PDF files with well-produced handouts for students. I've also used their Ten Foot Bible Timeline chart on our classroom wall in conjunction with The Bible Overview cards I mentioned above.

A Quest for More: Chapter Two

2008-06-24T12:19:00.005-05:00

Part Three of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter Two: More or Less?

BIG IDEA:

"We are all capable of fighting for what has little value while forgetting things of transcendent value...It is so hard for us to make the truly important things functionally important to us...When I opt for a me-centered 'more,' what I actually get is always much, much less" (pp. 26-28).

BASIC OUTLINE:

The tendency "to talk about more, but to settle for less" is common to all humans.

We have inherited this less-is-more attraction from Adam and Eve, who were looking for more ("you will be like God") when they settled for less ("she took of its fruit and ate...and he ate").

Our enemy has continued to use this less-is-more tactic throughout biblical history...even tried it on Jesus.

Our only hope is the good news that God in Christ has come to redeem us from our obsession with smaller kingdoms and to recreate us into people who "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).

SOME FAVORITE (and convicting!) QUOTES:

"A man will forget that, as a father, he has been welcomed to the transcendent glory of being part of God's work of forming human souls. Instead he will buy into the replacement glory of career success. More and more, his life will be eaten up and defined by his work. Less and less will his sense of purpose have to do with the formative community that only he can offer his children. Sadly, his children cease to be one of the joyful focuses of his living and become an obligation in an already-too-busy schedule. Less and less do his children know him, respect him, trust him, or feel his love" (page 29).

"The struggle I am describing very often takes place inside the borders of good theology and regular participation in the scheduled programs of the church. It is possible, and maybe even quite regular, to participate in these things and still be settling, in the little moments of my daily existence, for much, much less than the transcendence for which you were created. Things as mundane as wardrobe, menu, schedule, workload, location, traffic, weather, being right, getting affirmed, money, housing, employment, gardens, family rooms, sex, leisure, who's in the bathroom first, who did what with my newspaper, who ate the last of the cereal, etc.--all of all which are important in some way--rise to a spiritually dangerous level of importance in the heat of the moment. These are the moments we live in every day. The normal day is a 24-hour collection of little moments. Day after day, week after week, and year after year, these little moments set the character of a person's life.

When little things become the big thing for which I consistently fight, I have forsaken transcendence for the temporary shadow glories of creation" (pp. 30-31).

The Church's Greatest Evangelism Tool Is The Church

2008-06-22T22:07:00.009-05:00

Wisdom from the preaching of Sinclair Ferguson:

I remember cringing a few years ago when the Mel Gibson Passion movie came out, and I noticed a number of ministers...making foolish pronouncements like 'This is the greatest evangelistic tool there has ever been in the entire history of the church.' When anyone uses that type of language you can be pretty certain that they know almost nothing about the history of the church.

What about the church? Doesn't Jesus teach us here [John 17 :20-23] that His single greatest evangelistic agency is the church? And notice--I think this is significant--not the church simply as a random collection of individuals who have been converted, but the church as a new, counter-cultural community in which the fellowship of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit comes to expression in the unity, and community, and joy, and sense of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ among His people.

That's the reason, you know, in the New Testament there's hardly any instruction whatsoever about how to be a witness. And by contrast, in our evangelism manuals all the emphasis lies on 'How can you as an individual be a witness?' and 'Here are the questions you need to learn to ask.' Now what's that a sign of? That's a sign of the bankruptcy of the church, because when the church is full of the power of the Holy Spirit what happens is what Simon Peter describes in 1 Peter, chapter 3--that you're in a situation that you need to be ready to give an answer for the hope that's in you.

When the church fails to be the church, individual Christians need to learn how to ask questions that will make ungodly people think about godly things. But when the church is the church, the people of God simply need to answer the questions that the very character of the church is prompting the world to ask.

And that's what we desperately need. That is perhaps the single greatest need we have as a community of God's people. That there might be something about the very atmosphere of our fellowship together in the unity of the bonds of the Holy Spirit that makes people ask the question 'Where on earth, or in heaven, did that come from?' And if they're not compelled to ask that question about our church, it's an almost certain sign that there's very little that's heavenly about our community...

Now, I'm a middle-aged man, and so I am less cautious than I once was in saying what I'm about to say. Our churches have the key of making an extraordinary impact upon our society in our pockets, if we will just take that key out. What is it? Be the church.

--from a sermon on John 17 titled "The Church and Christ's Burden" given by Sinclair Ferguson at the EPC General Assembly on Thursday evening, June 19th, 2008.

A Quest for More: Chapter One

2008-06-16T10:01:00.006-05:00

Part Two of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter One: A Quest for More

BIG IDEA:

"There is woven inside each of us a desire for something more--a craving to be part of something bigger, greater, and more profound than our relatively meaningless day-to-day existence" (page 14).

BRIEF OUTLINE:

"You were hardwired by your Creator for a glory orientation...We were simply made for glory, but not just the shadow glories of the created world. We were made for the one glory that is transcendent--the glory of God. When you grasp this, your life begins to make a difference" (pp. 18-19).

"Let's consider the glory-focus of Genesis 1 and 2. There are four transcendent glories that were created to be the life-shaping focus of every human being. The first is the glory for which every human being is to live, and the following three are glories that flow from the first" (page 19).

"God glory...our lives were designed to be shaped more by our attachment to the Creator than by the creation. We were made to experience, to be part of, to be consumed by, and to live in pursuit of the one glory that is truly glorious--the glory of God" (page 19).

"Stewardship glory...[Adam and Eve] were constructed to do more than take care of themselves; they were called to care for the wide variety of amazing things God had purposefully crafted to be reflectors of his glory...it was a call for Adam and Eve to never shrink the size of their care to care for themselves" (page 20).

"Community glory...God makes Adam and Eve and immediately calls them to the transcendent glory of a world-reaching, generation-spanning, and history-encompassing community. This commitment to community was meant to be a major shaping focus of their day-to-day living" (page 21).

"Truth glory...Immediately upon creating Adam and Eve, God did something that he had not done with anything else he made. He spoke to them...God's words contained knowledge of him, the meaning and purpose of life, a moral structure for living, the nature of human identity, a fundamental human job description, a call to human community, and a call to divine worship...Every thought was meant to be shaped by the truth glory that he would patiently and progressively impart to them" (pp. 21-22).

SOME FAVORITE QUOTES:

"I am afraid there are many people of faith who attend church each week, give regularly to God's work, know their Bible pretty well, and don't live overtly evil lives; but they have settled for 'below and less' when they were created for 'above and more.'

The mistake they have made is that they have shrunk their Christianity to the size of their own lives. They have taken God's grace and wisdom as an invitation to a better marriage, a better relationship with their children, a better extended family life, better success at work, etc. And there is a way that God's grace does invite me to all of these things. But here is the point of this little book: God invites you to so much more!" (pp. 17-18)

"It is about living for a greater kingdom than the kingdom of my life, my family, and my job. And where do I live for this greater kingdom? In my life, my family, and my job!" (page 23)

More on The Bible As a "Narrative with Notes"

2008-06-12T07:51:00.004-05:00

A couple of days ago we asked "Are we to read the Bible as a story or as a systematic theology?" We concluded that the answer is "both/and." Since then I've come across another illuminating quote from Dr. Michael D. Williams' book Far As the Curse Is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption:

Indeed, the Bible as a whole is best understood as a story or drama. To be sure, the Bible does more than tell a story. Scripture includes psalms and proverbs, songs and prayers, moral instruction and doctrinal reflection. But what holds all of it together, what makes it a unified revelation is the storyline, what theologians often call the drama of redemption. The nonnarrative pieces fit into and make sense only within their appropriate contexts in the biblical storyline…

A Warning to Married Pastors

2008-06-11T13:03:00.002-05:00

Attention married pastors: watching this video may save your marriage.

[HT: The Point]

Dashboard Confessions: Approval & Acceptance

2008-06-10T08:20:00.002-05:00

Back in January I began a series of posts called "Dashboard Confessions" in which I consider how the presence of appetite, anger, anxiety, and other affections function as warning lights on the dashboard of my soul, alerting me to my heart's propensity to try to run on any fuel but Jesus. When I sense one of these affections taking priority in my heart I remember Abba Poeman's wise words of warning: "Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart." When these lights start flashing, I can be sure that I have been giving my heart to something or someone other than the One who said, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2).

Two of those warning signals, a desperation for approval and acceptance, are closely related and easily confused for one another, so I must deal with them together. When I sense my heart searching for either approval of my performance or for acceptance of my person, then I know I am giving my heart to that which does not satisfy my heart. You see, like everyone else, I long to do something special and to be someone special. God created us in His image to be a community (be someone special) on mission (do something special)...a relationship of rulers who love and serve God, each other, and all that He has made (Genesis 1:26-29, 2:15, 18). So, there is a sense in which I was made to be approved for my performance and accepted as a person. The trouble starts when I seek that approval and acceptance from the wrong source (Jeremiah 2:13).

Have you noticed how Jesus never seemed to be concerned about whether people accepted Him or approved of what He was doing or not doing? His Teflon-like responses to the opinions of others were wonderfully refreshing. Neither criticism nor kudos stuck to Him. Oh, I long to be like Him. So, how did He do that? Perhaps it's because He heard and believed the words that His Father said to and about Him: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11, 9:7; Luke 3:22, 9:35). Just before the two most significant periods of His earthly life (His public ministry and His crucifixion/resurrection/ascension) Jesus heard His Father's words of acceptance and approval. "You are My Son, whom I love. You are accepted. I am pleased with You. You have my approval." All other forms of acceptance and approval pale in comparison to that of the Father. Oh, if only I could live like that. What would my life be like if I truly believed that I had the Father's complete acceptance and convincing approval? Maybe I'd be more like Jesus.

But I do have the Father's acceptance and approval. If by faith I am "in Christ" then I can hear the Father say to me "You are My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased because of Jesus." It all comes back to whether I believe it or not. When I get discouraged because someone is disappointed with my performance or disrespects me as a person, that's a light on the dashboard telling me that my heart under the hood is low on faith in the good news of the Gospel. When moments of praise and popularity lift my spirit and excite my soul more than the love of my Father, that's a warning signal that my heart is getting gummed up with its own glory. These flashing lights remind me that when people are too big in my heart, God is too small.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite Henri Nouwen quotes:

“The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show me some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?”

But even as comforting as that thought is, it stills leaves my acceptance and approval dependent on my love for Jesus rather than on His love for me. Perhaps it's more accurate and gospel-centered to say:

“The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show me some results? But: Are you in Christ Jesus?”