Starring out into the ocean always makes me think of how big God really is. You can look out and for miles there is no end. I imagine this being a good picture of eternity. No seeming end just and expanse that goes on and on. In thinking about eternal things I am immediately inclined to ask the question what is important, what matters in light of eternity?
I think that the greatest impact that we can have on eternity is what we are doing with the Gospel now. The Gospel is the only thing that can sustain us into eternity. Most importantly it is what assures us of an eternity spent with the Father. But the Gospel is about far more that an eventual destination.
Jesus calls us to a life that is consumed with who he is and the natural out pouring of that is our kingdom centered action. The point of salvation isn’t found in a destination, but in our release from captivity of sin and death, into freedom and life. The Gospel tells us that in the Son there is freedom and Love and Life right now. That we can begin to experience eternal things right were we are.
The other side of this coin is that the Gospel also speaks against the idea that someone can just gain “fire insurance”. A life that has been freed from the chains of sin and death is a life that is called to action, a life that looks to join in the redemptive work of the Gospel so that others might be freed also. Ultimately the call of the Gospel is for us to be Holy as Jesus is Holy. That means we are acting as Jesus would act, love as Jesus would love and live as Jesus would live.
Destination
Something More
Last week I spent a few days in Austin Texas at the Verge Conference. As I was there I was continuously being brought back to two things. First the incredible reliance upon the Holy Spirit to be my sustenance, my drive and my comforter. Second, the call of Christ on our lives to be in this world with such vibrant and undeniable love, because that is what He did while He walked around as a man.
Dealing with the First. I have come to a point in my life where getting by is just simply not enough. I want more of the Spirit. I want to know that the things that I value are the things that God our Father values. I want to know that my desires are shaped and reflect God’s desires. Last night with my community we discussed the Lord’s Prayer. I was struck by the simplicity of it, yet it is so deep. Do I really look to see the will of the Father here as it is in Heaven? Do I really rely on God for my sustenance? I have to say not all the time, and I am troubled by this.
A few things that I have come to realize about myself in the past week. For a large part of my faith journey in Christ I have allowed theologies to dictate my understanding of the Scriptures, rather than allowing my understanding of the scriptures dictate my theology. To often I have leaned in on what I learned in College and Seminary to carry me through. In that I think I have largely missed out on some incredible things that God is not just doing around me, but what he has been doing throughout much of history. My pride has gotten the best of me, so much so that I silently thought that I had figured out God! Yet returning to Texas this past week was the culmination of what God has been doing in my heart over the last year, something that I don’t know that I got until returning home. There is so much that I know about God, but I don’t understand Him, there is so much that I believe, but I do so out of my confidence not out of my weakness.
I want more of the Holy Spirit. I want to think less about the intricacies of God and act more on how much he loves me as his son. I want to embrace my short comings and let them be a testimony to the work that he has done and is doing. I want to know that some how my life is connected to the grand plan of redemption, restoration and renewal of this world.
I want more of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to worry about things that distract me from God as my sufficient provider. I want to know believe in my unbelief because that is where I believe incredible power lies. I believe that it is in our radical reorientation to a life wholly reliant upon something outside not only of ourselves but this known universe is a life that is powerful and full of life and vibrance.
I want more of the Holy Spirit. Because what more is there to want?
Dealing with the second part of what God has been teaching me how to love in such a vibrant and undeniable way. I have not been a very loving person. In fact even in experiencing that love of Christ I have found myself to be radically intolerant of brothers and sisters in Christ, moreover those who are not my brothers and sisters. Yet the mark of Christ is love, so where has love been in me?
I have come to the conclusion that I have not understood love in its proper context, largely because until recently I have had very few good examples of love. To help me understand love God saw fit for me to be a father. There is nothing I would not do for my daughter. I love her more than I thought possible. Loving her has extended my understanding of love. It has helped me to understand just what the Love of a father really looks like. It has helped me to know that my capacity for love is so much greater than I had every thought existed.
I think about my wife and how much more I love her. I have always loved her, yet it seems that I loved her in a way that would have contingencies. This is not so now. You see God has illumined for me the depth of Love, both in the form of Fatherhood and in the conviction that poured over me this past week in Texas. I want to live everyday full of the love of Christ that people would know unequivocally that Jesus is real.
Xealots Review
Recently I read Xealots by Dave Gibbons. It is phenomenal work on what it means to let the Gospel truly transform you from the inside out. As is the case with Monkey and the Fish, Gibbons uses a narrativesque method to convey the message of the book.
The book focuses on our response to the Gospel transforming our lives,simultaneously in how we think and how we act. There is a need to transcend the culture, both in the context of where you live and the prevailing “christian culture” that encircles us.
Gibbons not only relies on his experience and personal philosophy/ theology to communicate his points, but also intertwines the scriptures to illustrate why what he is saying is exactly what God is desiring of us.
The first part of the book deals with the mind. Gibbons deals with our need to be ever focused on the Gospel and the task at hand, missio dei. We have been charged with a task that deserves our singular focus. It deals with the need to be consumed with the Gospel, and be continually renewed by it.
The second part of the book deals with action. It is not enough for us to just be transformed in our thinking we have to equally let that transformation impact what we do on a daily basis.
This book truly is a must read. I found it to be a spiritual disciplines book, without necessarily intending to be. It is a book that I believe if you are the type of person who only reads 1 or 2 a year this should be one of them. Great work Dave.
Adjustment Bureau and Free Will vs. Predestination
On the plane to California I decided to watch the movie The Adjustment Bureau, it was a fascinating movie that was very well done. This had been the first time I had seen it and from the beginning I thought it was going to be another Matt Damon Movie full of suspense and intrigue, and it was but for a different reason.
There is a great depiction in the first ¾ of the movie of the long lasting debate between man’s free will and predestination. This of course is not the first time that I have been engaged in the discussion, but it was the first time I had see it in a Hollywood movie. In fact if all you watched was the first ¾ you might think that you were at an Acts 29 conference (for those not familiar Acts 29 is a church planting network who holds very strongly to Calvinism) listening to the proofing of God’s sovereignty.
The concerning this about how much the two paralleled each other was the matter-of-factness that came across in speaking about divine intervention in order to keep things on plan. In the movie Damon’s character David Norris encounters something he was not suppose to encounter, when part of the “plan” was not carried out as it should have been. Norris is then abducted by the adjustment agents who begin to contain the situation by exposing the whole interworking of the world. Norris of course will not be held back or down by this oppression and fights it. And in these kind of movies the right things often happens… love wins (but that’s a post for another time).
A few things that got my mind thinking, first how the agents described the divine as this heartless puppet master who is more concerned with the “plan” than is concerned for its greatest creation in humanity. However the auspices of concern loomed in that man left to his own freewill will only destroy itself so control is necessary. While I know many awesome dudes and ladies who hold a healthy Calvinist view of sovereignty I was shocked at how much of a parallel was between the agents description of the divine and many folks today especially young church planters.
Second, the tension that exists between this free will of man and the sovereignty of God. While the movie did a great job depicting the struggle between the two, I couldn’t help but find solas in the fact that there is a healthy place where both exist in the world without much, if any, tension.
Examining the scriptures and reading through the works of Calvin and the doctrines at the Senate of Dort (where the 5 points of Calvinism was founded), it is my belief that the two exist in this way: Before Christ we are separated from God, in fact we are slaves to sin to the point that we have no will as sin dictates everything we do. But when we come to Christ we are given a freedom because we have been given a new nature of which we can now interact with God freely. In Christ our relationship is restored with God how it was in the Garden. In Christ we can now choose for or against God. The two exist in this way outside of Christ we have no hope and are predestined to death, but in Christ we have freedom.
This much to say each side can proof text all day long, both sides of the argument suggest they are right and that the majority of scripture favors them, but was each side neglects is as much as they might be right in their piece of the discussion the evidence for both exists just as described, it is a paradox that drives us crazy. The unfortunate thing about the argument is that when it is done public for all to see it may actually be counter active for the gospel.
The Western Struggle
Over the last few months I have been consulting a church plant that I will eventually be a part of the planting team. It has brought to the surface a lot of questions that I have been asking for a while, but not interacted formally with. Yesterday I was in a conversation with a fellow about a few different things as it relates to Christianity and where it is headed in the western world. Among those different topics the church specifically came up at the end of the conversation. It was in this conversation that I had heard something articulated very clearly, which I believed to be true about those leading the church today but had not really heard anyone admit to it. The identification of a “preaching problem.” The problem with what was said is that we don’t have a preaching problem at all we have a discipleship problem. Our struggle in the West stems from multiplication by attraction–the problem with this is that as easily as we can attract people to our services and building, they can be attracted else where.
There seems to be this overwhelming thought that if we just preach better, or if we just preach the right stuff then that will fix everything. I am not sure this really will fix a lot, if anything. When I examine the Gospel accounts in the scriptures I see more time spent on the description of Jesus discipling the Apostles to go out and make disciples, I don’t see Him spending as much time on their preaching style or even content. By this I mean he discipled them as to not allow for question of content, He discipled them to interact with the world in such a way that they could gain trust and influence to shift a people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of heaven, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Today we spend so much time on training “pastors” to be great preachers that we neglect training them to be good disciplers, so that they can accomplish one of their main goals equipping the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4.12).
The problem in the west is not a preaching problem it is a discipleship problem. Many Christians in the West today do not have a good foundation that they can interact with the world well. They struggle when they read something that might be doctrinally shaky, they act as though every word that comes from their “pastors” mouth are Jesus’ words rather than being able to rightly discern for themselves the scriptures. I as “pastors” we spent as much time teaching the people whom God has entrusted us with to do these things then I believe that Christianity in the West would look drastically different. In fact Western Christianity might even spawn into a movement once again, of which the Holy Spirit is using the citizens of the Kingdom of God in such a way that the kingdom would grow exponentially.
Review of On the Verge- Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson
Consider for a moment a sitting in a room knowing that there is a problem, but your are not sure how to fix it. The scenario is a church who is struggling because of a paradigm they have been living in which as been causing a gradual decline. People are locking into a way of thinking that does not allow them to use their imagination, in fact they have been thinking and acting this way for so long they don’t think there is any other way to be the church.
On the Verge is the book that can help alleviate the situation. There has not been a book that I have read that includes a theological depth along with a pragmatic prowess. Many books that exist in this genre often leaving you wanting more, whether that more is a better theological understanding, or a better how-to, “On the Verge” is the book that delivers both. Hirsch’s mind at work giving the foundational groundwork for why, and Ferguson’s experience playing out missional living is a one book shop. If you are only going to give one book to someone who is looking at transitioning, planting or thinking about the church this should be the book.
I have found a deeper appreciation for both men through this book and look forward to seeing the type of impact it can have on God’s people if they pick it up and begin to take it seriously.
The Hope of Restoration.
In some recent reading that I have done the hope of restoration was highlighted. Along with reading this book I have also begun reading Hosea with a group of guys who I have engaged in discipleship with. I am astounded with the amount of grace that God has shown in the midst of Israel’s abandonment of Him.
We often associate the old testament with God being a wrathful and intolerant god, but that is far from the case. What we see in the scriptures is a God who desires His people to be drawn to Him and life in the light of steadfast love, righteousness, justice and faithfulness. They should live in this way because it is how God interacts with us.
In beginning of Hosea we see that God asks Hosea to take a prostitute for a wife. God often had those prophets doing some crazy things, cooking bread on dung, being fed by birds and the like. Taking a prostitute as a wife was for the purpose to show how he relates to Israel. While she was very unfaithful and strayed far from Him, He would still be there. Hosea bore three children with his wife, and each of them represents a stage of destruction and restoration… destruction and restoration, a very balanced idea? I think so.
God dosent act needlessly. There is purpose in everything that He does, most importantly in regards to His interaction with His people there is always through out all of scripture a greater reason for why hardship comes. In most cases this destruction, the removal of everything but HIM is for the restoration of a heavenly community.
So as we read the whole of the scriptures we have to see the balance that God interacts in. We have to know that this restoration we are being pointed to is the restoration that comes from Christ, who is restoring us to the Father. It is in Christ alone that we find this restoration, and it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live in a manner that pursues restoration, renewal and redemption every day.
Hearing the Voice of God
There are times in our lives that we look to hear the voice of God, and as we do we begin to set everything aside and listen (at least we should). But this should be a posture that we take through all of life. If we don’t look to hear the voice of God everyday we begin to find it harder and harder to know what His voice sounds like.
This is something that I have found myself struggling with. Recently I have been trying to understand what is happening around life. There have been some amazing things that have brought great joy, while there have been other things that bring great discouragement. As these things have come I have found that God’s voice has not been heard in the same way. In fact I have had to discern now more than ever the voice of the Lord over other voices.
This is a difficult process. This process has been a very discouraging one, as all the things that I have believed God to be doing seem to be shifting. This isn’t to say that God is doing different things; rather they are beginning to look much different than how they had before.
I wonder if this is what the Apostles must have felt like as Jesus was put on the Cross and their Rabi had been taken from them. There was this grand vision that they had in front of them, yet it all began to shift dramatically. Is this because they were fitting Jesus’ message into their context instead of their context into Jesus’ message. It seems that as we begin to dream great dreams and pray big prayers, we allow that to cloud what God is trying to do. In fact we begin to believe that what we are praying is the will of God when it might not be.
This is the point that I believe that I have come to. I absolutely believe that I will plant a church in San Jose, Ca. I absolutely believe that God will bring a people to help with that work. And I absolutely believe that God is my (and my families) ultimate provider. These things have been clouded by my dreams. I don’t think that I have misheard God, in fact I am confident of that, but I do think that I have misapplied what God is moving and equipping me to do.
When God speaks He is clear. When we look in the scriptures of Abraham being told to go, or the disciples being told to go. These things are very clear; however in some of those instances we see in scripture fear, ideals and dreams may have skued what God wanted them to do. It is not that they weren’t moving toward what God wanted them to do, but they had tried something that God may not have intended them to do, and outside of God’s agenda we being to lose success. Hence why God sends the people out of Jerusalem through persecution early in the book of Acts.
We have to be clear about who God is and we have to listen carefully all the time. As we do this we must not just go without constant contact with God, but we also must being willing to go. This is a fine line of walking by faith and listening.
Church Business
There is an overwhelming obligation that sweeps over churches and has been sweeping over churches for sometime now. Baptism, membership and communion have in some ways lost their meaning; they seem to have lost their foundation, they have lost a sense of power and reflection.
Consider baptism, there are clear teachings that we have about baptism in and then there are parts of baptism that we jump to some solid conclusion. What we find in the scriptures is that baptism always precedes confession that Jesus is Lord that you believe Jesus is the Son of God died on the cross for the forgiveness of mankind. But what do we know about baptism after that?
Knowing that baptism precedes confession other traditions that practice forms of baptism that don’t require confession, don’t find themselves validated by the biblical authority. There is some good intent behind these traditions and a care and compassion that initiated the practice, but it is not the inline with what we define as “believers baptism” by the scriptures.
So how do we baptize? The only proof we have toward a mode of baptism in the scriptures is the literal meaning of the Greek word itself. In Greek the word finds its meaning in being immersed. Outside of this many traditions rely on the way one mode communicates something and others don’t. The only biblical president that we find is that it is post confession how it happens is possibly more a matter of preference.
Acknowledging that baptism is post confession, what does that mean? There is a sense in scripture of a link between the power of the Holy Spirit and being baptized. This is not to say that baptism is a salvific act, it is not, but in many texts through out the book of Acts we find that the reception of the Holy Spirit followed the act of baptism. This leads me to believe that there is a greater power in baptism beyond mere symbolism.
Membership is something that seems to be much more of a western phenomenon. There doesn’t seem to be a standard for membership in the scriptures. In fact the language used in scripture that is often associated with the body of Christ, as in believers through all time are members of one another. The message is scripture is about all Christians working toward one goal as one body as there is one God and Father who is of all in all and through all (Eph 4.6).
This is an issue that if the church is focused on discipleship as illustrated in the scriptures then we should, and hopefully would, be one body seeking the kingdom of God established were we are at.
Finally communion. This is a meal that the family of God takes together to remember what Jesus did on the Cross. There is a certain weight that is placed on communion, we need to be sure that we are reconciled to one another, that we are taking it not having open transgression, it is a time of confession and blessing.
Given the many different understandings about communion it seems that on one extreme we find those who believe that the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus as we are consuming those in remembrance of the Cross, while on the other side of the spectrum it is just symbolism.
The middle ground for these two as one is overly strong and one is incredibly weak is to acknowledge that the taking of communion provides a sense of spiritual nourishment. Participating in communion is a time to reflect, confess, and nourish our lives. This seems to be why the language around communion discusses the regularity of when to take communion, and what the elements consist of.
Through each of these things we find that tradition and culture may have helped to move us away from the focus of what these things accomplish in the life of believers. Each of things should drive us closer to one another and to God through the truth that is found in the Gospel.
Fear in Labels
Consider the church today; there are big ones and small ones, scattered ones and gathered ones and institutional ones and organic ones. But what does it mean to be the church? In a previous post we talk about the church first being based on a confession “you are the Christ” made by Peter and Jesus’ response was that on that confession he would build His church. This means that Jesus has to be at the center of what the church is and what it does.
If Jesus is the center of what we do and who we are as a church, then surely he must be the authority. We have entered a time when churches have the leeway to be or look however they like without submission to Christ. We have to have distinctions like “missional” and “gospel centered”. Then are “mega’s” and “ houses”, “cells” and “traditional”. Yet none of these mean anything if Jesus is not the Lord of our lives as Christians and as His Church.
The fear of labels comes in that are we allowing churches to be churches if Jesus is not the center of what they do. Is there a lack of boldness on our part because we worry about being judgmental? The answer is yes. As Christians today we have become very tolerant of any and all things as long as they lead to the same place, in other words methodological universalism. We have to be careful of this because while it is good to see different churches it is not good to have false ideas of what we do as a church.
In labeling we hope that the label is enough to keep people away, and so we speak specifically about one group over another to add a connotation to the label. But however you want to label a church if they are not centered on Jesus, if the Gospel does not drive them, if they are not seeking the kingdom of God here and now then they are not a church, regardless of what they call themselves or what they say.
The church cannot be void of Jesus, or the gospel. To need distinctions like “gospel centered” or “missional” means that we are okay with churches that don’t do these things. We aren’t confronting one another in love and asking why the void is there, then we are not being good Kingdom citizens. This not a conversation about who is wrong or who is right in method, but a conversation about being people who are about our first love. This is about calling one another back to our identity in Jesus.
At the end of the day we have to be about the foundation of the church, Jesus. We have to be about the Gospel. We have to be about the expansion of the kingdom of God. As we are about these things and as anything we do is interwoven in these things we will find effectiveness. We will find the restoration, renewal, redemption and reconciliation of the world to its creator, of a people to God.
