I read the Jesus Storybook Bible to Malachi each night. It’s one of my favorite parts of the day. As I read it, and think about its theme of “Every Story Whispers His Name,” I reflect on all of the sermons I’ve heard that don’t have Jesus at the center. They may talk about Him and the cross, but the application of sermon still becomes all about me instead of being all about Him. For instance, I recently listened to a sermon about the feeding of the five thousand and the main point of the sermon was “watch Jesus take your little and turn it into a lot.” I respectively don’t think that’s the point of the story. I think it’s about Jesus being the bread of life. I think it’s about Jesus being all sustaining. I think it’s about Jesus rewriting the rules about what it means to be a King. I think it’s about Jesus doing miracles that demonstrate His divinity. All those points make much of Jesus and none of them make much of me or make it in any way about me and what I’ve given. It’s all about what HE has DONE. This blog post by Jared Wilson says the same thing in a much more eloquent way than I ever could:

You’ve probably heard this Sunday School humor tidbit:

Sunday School teacher holds up a picture and asks the class, “What is this?”

Little Johnny answers, tentatively, “Well, it looks like a squirrel, but I know the answer is ‘Jesus’.”

I can laugh at the Little Johnny and the Squirrel story, but I think it’s true too. The best teaching and preaching always makes the answer “Jesus.”

Not every biblical text is explicitly about Jesus of course. But no matter what it looks like, we can show that the answer is Jesus.

How?

Here’s how I approach biblical texts in the mode of gospel-centrality:

If I’m looking at an exhortation/command/Law, I ask what precipitates it. Sometimes you have to draw in the gospel reminder if it’s not immediately in the text or context. For instance: Leviticus is chock-full of commands, but this book comes after Exodus, after the Israelites are set free from Egyptian bondage and are in the wilderness. So I remind myself and my church that obedience is a response to God’s freedom, not the leverage for God’s freedom. In other words, we don’t obey to be set free; we obey *because* we’ve been set free. In the same way Jesus announces the blessings of the kingdom coming in the Beatitudes, and then proceeds to tell us what life in the kingdom looks like (the rest of the Sermon on the Mount). Pronouncement precedes exhortation; being precedes doing.

This is easier to do in Paul’s letters, because Paul is always connecting commands to gospel pronouncements, couching what we do in “what we are.” One has to try really hard to divorce Paul’s exhortations from Paul’s gospel proclamations. A lot of preachers do it, but you really have to put the blinders on. It gets harder in the Old Testament, but even in some of the hard core hellfire and brimstone passages of the Minor Prophets, there are plenty of little gospel pronouncements. (Malachi’s burning furnace and threat of God smearing dung on our faces comes after he explicitly reminds us “I have loved you.”)

If the text I’m looking at is a story of some kind, the most important thing I try to do is use it to point to Jesus as the hero of history. So David and Goliath becomes not about our having courage in the face of adversity but about Jesus defeating sin/death/Satan on our behalf. We aren’t David in that story; we are the scared Israelites.

A good template for gospel-centered biblical storytelling is Ferguson’s “Jesus is the true and better __________.”

This is extremely important. And once we make it our routine practice, it will get easier to see the gospel springs running beneath the hard soil of God’s harder words. Once we train our eyes to see it, we will see the gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected as the theme of all of Scripture, not just the New Testament, and not just the parts in the New Testament that are “easy.”

Eventually we can look at any text and say, “Well, it looks like a squirrel — and maybe it is a squirrel — but we know the answer is Jesus.”

While the subheading for the recent Christianity Today interview with Francis Chan is horrible (Francis Chan says we should stop trying to make people love Jesus, and learn to rely on prayer, elders, and the Holy Spirit instead. Really, he advocated that) the interview is amazing. Chan is consistently one of the most Holy Spirit-aware, Bible-integrating speakers that I listen to. He’s consistently comparing his life and the life of his church against what he reads in God’s Word and there’s little, if any, of his interpretation that I can argue with. Here are some questions and answers from the interview

Q: So the example of the elders and leadership is more important, even in a large church, than having the right programs or preaching?

Absolutely. That is 100 percent true. There are a lot of churches with leaders that aren’t living out their faith together, and they don’t have trust. Instead they’re trying to bring transformation by creating programs. That’s why you often hear of people who say, “I love church but once I got into the leadership, the inner workings, I was so disillusioned.” That’s a terrible indictment.

Q: How can we know if our ministry is being empowered by the Spirit?

Churches that are built through our effort rather than the Spirit’s will quickly collapse when we stop pushing and prodding people along.

Now we should push, prod, and persuade men, but I’ve learned to spend a lot more time praying and asking the Spirit to move and begging God to send forth laborers.

The more you look at Scripture, the more you realize that nothing happens unless God is behind it. Jesus is building his church. I just want to be a part of that. I’ll keep doing my work, but the fruit is up to him. We can only pray, “Please, please, please let us see your Spirit at work. May it be like a mighty wind that moves us.”

Q: Cornerstone is a megachurch by definition. Is the size of the church evidence that a “wave” of the Spirit is happening?

A large gathering where everyone is singing really loud is nice, but it’s not an indication that the Spirit is at work. We don’t see that biblically. If that’s success, then we’d be spending more money on better musicians and better worship leaders. But that’s not how our elder board measures success.

In God’s eyes success is people loving each other deeply, caring for one another, digging deep in each other’s lives, sharing their possessions, and sharing the gospel in their communities. Are they fully devoted followers of Jesus? Is there transformation happening? Do they see themselves as part of something bigger than themselves—a body with a mission larger than the individual?

Our job is not to keep as many people as possible. Our job is to make sure that we’re setting a biblical pattern.

Q: But you have had people get upset and leave.

Yeah, and it’s hard. But Jesus really didn’t have a problem with turning people off if they weren’t ready for the commitment. What I see in Scripture is that’s it’s all or nothing. We are called to die to ourselves; it’s complete death, surrender.

I tell people, “It’s great that you’re checking us out and learning, and I pray that you’ll come to understand that God is good and nothing compares to him. I hope at that point you’ll give your life to Jesus and follow him.”

The commitment to follow Jesus is like marriage. It’s a lifelong commitment for better or for worse. And if someone is not ready to make that commitment, then they shouldn’t get married.

Q: How do you respond when someone walks away because they’re not ready for the commitment?

We always have to check our own hearts and make sure we communicated with them in love. Early on when people first started to leave, there wasn’t a lot of love or compassion. We sort of considered it a victory that people walked away. There was some arrogance in us, and that breaks my heart. Even now it’s always hard when a person leaves. And so we rally around each other, encourage one another, and remind each other that this is going to happen but we’ve got to keep teaching it.

Q: Do you ever get accused of being pharisaical for calling people to such a high commitment?

Oh, absolutely. The comment I get is that we’re becoming a cult because we call people to make a commitment. We define cults as communities overly committed to a belief system. By that definition Jesus would have been leading a cult. So today Mormons are willing to ride their bikes around town, Jehovah’s Witnesses will knock on doors, but as Christians we don’t have to do anything. We’ve been taught a watered-down version of following Jesus for so long that people think it’s Christianity, but it’s not biblical.

I have to be honest and say there were so many times I wanted to quit, because it is really painful when friends leave and your loudest fans become your loudest critics. It does get lonely. And it’s hard when leaders who are with you start getting attacked. I get very defensive of my leaders because I love these guys. I don’t want people to think it’s easy to lead the church into greater depth and commitment. It stinks at times. But when you look back to the Word, you realize this is the way it’s got to be, and you have peace.

“We’ve been taught a watered-down version of following Jesus for so long that people think it’s Christianity, but it’s not biblical.” That line is hitting me hard right now. Am I really willing to follow Christ, knowing that it will require complete surrender to Him? Am I really willing to commit, come what may? I feel like some recent events (the twins, financial questions, etc) have put me in a position of needing to wholly depend on Christ and be completely committed. I’m not scared of what is to come. In face I’m really excited that God has called me to Himself through Chris tand that my whole life is an opportunity to give Him His due praise and glory.

“But when we begin to see that our life is in Jesus and not success, we can pursue our expectations, however high and lofty.  We may reach them or we may not, but we are now free to try, without our success or failure ultimately saying something about us.  We don’t need to lower the bar to prop up our ego.

So today are you tempted to lower your expectations about what you want to accomplish because it will preserve your ego?  If so, then remember, it wasn’t your definition of success that is the problem, it is that you think accomplishment is what defines you.”

Thanks, Tim Dunn, for this post today. I needed to hear this. I have big dreams for a movement of the gospel in Ann Arbor (planting 25 churches in 25 years, creating a training and equipping center, etc), yet I worry about “dreaming too big”. What if I fail, and I plant nothing and no one gets equipped? If my identity is found in Jesus, then I haven’t failed. I’m still on the path God ordained for me, it’s just a different one than I thought.

The hardest thing for a church planter is to fight alone in this world. So we look for the accolades and the attention and affirmation of others, forgetting that we are not fighting alone, but we are fighting a war that is beyond ourselves, and in that war we are united with all church planters and pastors, and believers who are actively living out the Great Commission. Let the gospel be your affirmation and your foundation.

From Tim Dunn at Planting Ohio. This post is very encouraging to me. I have felt rather alone, both going through Re:Train and looking towards planting a church. I would love nothing more than to have brothers here in Ann Arbor join me on this journey. However, that can’t approach the comfort I have through the Eternal Comforter and I get to rejoice in that. Hallelujah, All I Have is Christ!

the still persisting message of the American evangelical church, that of “Be a better you thanks to God” or what-have-you, is a powerless, un-compelling message

…

This is one more reason why morality cannot be the baseline. The line is Christ, the call is the cross. And it is for sinners and “saints” — even atheistic ones — alike.

From Jared Wilson. I struggle with this often, being comfortable with doing OK rather than desperately seeking after Christ. My willingness to trust God with all things can be measured by my satisfaction with the way things are, rather than how He intended them to be.

From Thom Rainer, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources and senior pastor of four churches.

There are no “do overs” in life and ministry. But there are always opportunities to learn, correct, and improve. So I decided to share with you seven of the key mistakes I made as a senior pastor.

1. I would spend more time in the Word and in prayer
2. I would give my family more time
3. I would spend more time sharing my faith
4. I would love the community where I lived more
5. I would lead the church to focus more on the nations
6. I would focus on critics less
7. I would accept the reality that I can’t be omnipresent

These are good words of warning as I look to plant a church.

From Thom Rainer, President and CEO of Lifeway Resources

Once inside the doors however, what is it that keeps (visitors) coming back for more?

Doctrinal Integrity

Research among previously unchurched individuals revealed a surprising desire to know and understand doctrine.  Knowledge however, is not enough.  It is vital to them that the church they attend be uncompromising in its stand.  People need to know that the church stands for something.

Passion

The leaders whose churches are reaching the unchurched are passionate about preaching.  The pastor connects with the congregation to the extent that individuals feel the message has been tailor- made just for them.  The pastors of effective churches overwhelmingly listed preaching as their most exciting and challenging task.

It is important to understand that this passion, which is exhibited, is not a personality trait.  It can be found in both quiet leaders and gregarious leaders.  Passionate preaching is the result of being completely devoted to and excited about the work and ministry that God has called them to do.

The passion from the pulpit carries over into evangelism as well.  In many thriving churches the driving force behind obedience to the Great Commission is the passion that the senior pastor maintains for the lost.

Relevance

Effective churches are relevant churches.  The pastor holds fast to the biblical integrity of his text, yet he does so with knowledge of the life situations in his congregation.  A church in a farming community will relate differently than a church in the inner city.  Churches must find ways to become relevant in their respective communities.

Some hear the word ‘relevant’ and think it somehow means that Scripture is being altered.  It is not necessary that tension exist between biblical integrity and relevancy.  There is nothing more relevant to a lost world than the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  The goal is simply to relate the unchanging gospel to the continually changing culture around us.

These are especially important points to remember as we look to plant and as we long to see Grace Bible grow and flourish.

Sovereign Grace is “a family of churches passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are devoted to planting and supporting local churches, with a strong doctrinal basis that is evangelical, Reformed, and continuationist.” Outside of their church polity (elder-rule), I’m a proponent of everything that they do. Dave Harvey, who heads up their church planting efforts, recently blogged about their “governors—things that help us pursue opportunities at the speed limit our values will allow.” The first governor is the qualified guy

What do we mean by a qualified man? A qualified man is one who has sensed a clear and enduring call to plant a church. But there’s more. That sense of call has been confirmed by mature leaders who know the man, warts and all. A qualified man is revealed by the grace on his life. How do we know if there’s grace? Because there are character and abilities that match the eldership qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and other passages. And not just to attain them, but to maintain them as well.

In Sovereign Grace Ministries, we organize these qualities around five essential criteria, which we call the “e5.” First and primarily there is preaching. That’s the BIG E. A qualified guy must be an expositor who knows how to handle God’s Word in clear and compelling manner. In our experience, the training and evaluation involved in this component just takes time. It slows the process. We realize that dialing this one back, maybe just downgrading from expository skill to sensible Bible teaching, would speed things up considerably. But we’re called not just to win converts but to make disciples. Disciple making requires exposition.

It doesn’t end there; here are numbers two through five. The qualified man displays (2) a leadership gift, (3) faith towards God, (4) a shepherd’s heart that cares for people, and (5) a determination to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5).

Those are outstanding qualifications and thoroughly biblical. As I look towards planting, the primary “e5″ that I’m lacking is the preaching one. Lord willing, there will be opportunities possibly at Grace or other local churches to preach. It’s an area that I need to grow in and to do that you need experience.

As I look towards the fall and starting an Ann Arbor-focused church planting cooperative called Planting in Tree Town, one of the things that I’m starting to think about is the level of co-operation between the different churches and organizations involved. Of the people on my radar so far, I would categorize them all as broadly Evangelical, but there are differences as far as church polity, Reformed vs. Arminian understanding of salvation, and others. At some level, co-operation may be simply praying together, encouraging one another, and sharing resources. Might there be possibilities for actual co-operation in planting? Possibly, but that will require determining what are the non-negotiable issues that would prevent partnership. Tyler Jones, of Vintage21 in Raleigh, recently talked with Scott Thomas of Acts 29 about Vintage’s level of relationships with other organizations in their city. These are helpful categories and could provide a framework for our work here in Ann Arbor.

1. Family
   • Have the same “DNA” – agree theologically on the authority of Scripture, Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and what that accomplished, etc.
   • Can plant churches together
   • Highest level of sharing resources and interaction
2. Friends
   • Christians who clearly love Jesus.
   • Have differing views on things like church polity, etc., which affect how closely they can work together.
   • Some activities and resource sharing is possible.
3. Partners
   • Ministries that may not be Christians at all.
   • Often social justice groups.
   • Provides an opportunity for evangelism to happen with those who they are serving alongside as well as those they are serving directly.

One of the criticisms of the role of Senior Pastor is the lack of accountability. I think that’s why God intended the church to be lead by a plurality of elders, so that they can each be accountable to each other. Here is how the elders at Capital Hill Baptist do accountability as a team of elders:

One of the practices that our elder board has adopted is accountability with the entire elder board.  Once a month, one of the elders will be examined by the entire board and asked a variety of questions about his spiritual state, family life, work priorities, evangelism, etc.  We hope that by giving time to examining each other, we are looking out for one another.  We do this with only the most loving of intentions.

A few other notes:

• This practice should never preclude an elder from seeking 1 on 1 accountability with others.  We encourage all of the elders to be regularly seeking 1 on1 accountability relationships with elders or other brothers!
• We don’t allow visitors to watch this because of the very personal nature of the questions.
• We limit the time to about 25 minutes and then take a few minutes to pray for the life and ministry of the elder who has been examined.
• There is a high level of respect and trust among our elders for each other.  This type of examination is done in a very gracious and loving way.  It is never intended to allow for anger, fighting, disdain, shaming or revenge among our elders.

If there is no accountability among your elders, you might consider encouraging your elders to pursue 1 on 1 accountability and also accountability with entire elder board.