Intersected

From Rob Plummer at the SojournKids.com blog

The Psalms – A Biblical Guide to Worshiping God

In the Psalms we find raw honesty – expressions of immense sadness, anger, joy, anxiety, etc.  The Psalms give expression to the full range of human emotions, but they do so always with reference to the God who made us and stands as Judge and Savior above us.  How do we worship God when others have wronged us?  The Psalms instruct us every conceivable situation as to how we should express our thoughts to our loving heavenly Father and ultimately how to worship him through all situations in life.

Suggestions for Incorporating the Psalms into Family Devotions

• Over the course of this month, have everyone in the family memorize the same Psalm (suggestion: Psalm 19).  Then, when the family takes a walk or is in the car together, take turns reciting parts of the psalm.
• Read a psalm or part of a psalm together at a family meal or before bed time.  If you read roughly one psalm per day, you will read through the book of Psalms twice per year.
• If your children are facing particular struggles, find a psalm that teaches them how to express their emotions in a God-honoring way.
• In family prayer time, read a psalm slowly verse by verse.  Pause after each verse to allow family members to express the ideas in their own words and apply them to their own situations.
• If you have a musically gifted member of the family, invite that person to make up an original melody to a psalm or portion of a psalm.
• Have the whole family draw pictures that illustrate some of the images or metaphors found in a psalm.
• For older children – have a “scavenger hunt” through the Psalms.  Everyone is required to find five types of psalms: (1) A psalm that praises God, (2) A psalm that expresses sadness, (3) A psalm that mentions the King, (4) A psalm that expresses repentance, and (5) A psalm that expresses thanksgiving.

From Ed Roberts on the 9Marks Blog

missiology is the intentional, ongoing, purposeful, biblically controlled, serious and prayerful reflection on the doing of God’s mission in the world

Living in the state with the worst economy in the country makes unemployment a topic of frequent conversation. Greg Gilbert on the 9Marks blog recently posted the ten things that a member at Capital Hill Baptist has learned from his unemployment.

#1: Own your unemployment

This struggle has revealed how much I wrongly value work and wrongly value being seen as important.  As a reaction to this new reality, my flesh wants to pass through this trial quickly.  My flesh doesn’t want to slow down and absorb the lessons that God has for me in this season.

So there is a constant struggle to avoid admitting that I am unemployed or that my unemployment has extended so long because it tells my flesh that the world doesn’t think much of me.  So I am tempted to tell people that I took a few months off before I really started looking; anything to minimize the embarrassment.

Embracing the trial, to me, means being honest with myself and forcing myself to run to God and to depend on him.  I need to work at not putting up defenses.  I need to regularly admit to people that I am unemployed…

This honest assessment drives me to the scriptures to find rest and solace in God and His word and NOT in anything else.

#2: Preach to yourself

In times like this, it is too easy to speak to yourself and become discouraged, to doubt and even to accuse God.  We need to arm ourselves with His word and battle those thoughts.  As Paul says in 2 Corinthians: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Here are a few common “thoughts” that we need to “take captive:” worry (Luke 12), fears that my struggle is meaningless (James 1), fears that God doesn’t love me (Galatians 4:6-7), fears that God is powerless (Numbers 1:23).

Use God’s Word to fight your thoughts that challenge God’s truth.

#3: Prepare for the Storm

The book of James is clear that we do not know the future.  We don’t even know what is going to happen tomorrow.  So, we are wise, to prepare.  As proverbs says: “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”  Are you prepared for tomorrow?  For those of you with jobs, you are in your ‘summer.’  Are you preparing for winter?   Don’t think that it can’t happen to you.  It is a good thing to live well within our means so that we can give sacrificially now while also saving that we might provide for our families in the future.

#4: Depend on the LORD

As a believer, it is a blessing to depend on the LORD.  It is really evident to me that the LORD is pouring out his grace on me and my family right now.  We know that Faith is a gift from God and he has been kind to allow me to trust him as I walk through this trial.

God is giving me hope.  Not just in that he will provide a next job.  But is giving me hope in him and is fitting me for heaven.

#5: Be surprised at his Kindness

In the midst of real difficultly, this has been a surprisingly sweet period in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I want a job, but I see this as God ordained.  He gives and he takes.  And, while waiting for a job, he has blessed me.

• He has refreshed my soul and reoriented my heart towards Him.
• I have been able to spend a ton of time with my family.
• The extra time has allowed me to serve my church and care for them.

God knew what I needed and has been an abundant provider of blessing.

#6: Encourage the unemployed

We are called to shoulder one another’s burdens. Around town I hear that job-searcher fatigue is taking hold.  That is, people are getting tired of helping job searchers.  As a church, we must not grow weary in doing good, but continue providing for those who are unemployed.

#7: Beware of Idol Worship

We know from Genesis 2 that work is ordained by the LORD and is good.  But our hearts are idol-factories, and in the middle of a prolonged search a job can easily become more important than God and drain your joy. And we lose perspective and think that all we need is a job and then life will be happy and fulfilling.  So we must fight this tendency by recognizing it, confessing it, and exercising the discipline of thanksgiving in all situations.

#8: Cry out to the LORD

It is a good thing to cry and pour out your heart to God.  Trials remind us that any sense that we have it all together is a complete illusion.  God and God alone is in control. As the Psalmist says: “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

#9: Invest the Extra time well

Being without a job is not without its benefits.  You have extra time on your hands.  And, you will soon miss this when you get a new job.

• Serve others
• Walk through this trial with other unemployed members of the church.
• Spend more time reading and with the LORD.  One warning: you still need to plan your quiet times or the day will slip by without one.

#10: Take Advantage of Unique Opportunities for Evangelism

Many friends and former colleagues have invested their entire lives in work.  And now many of them are unemployed and are panicking…  All of my former colleagues, whether employed or unemployed, expect that I should be panicking too.  That is the natural reaction of an unbelieving world.

What’s more, I’ve found that people who normally would never ask you how you are doing will do so now–and now they expect more than a cursory answer.  This is a great and natural opportunity to share how you are trusting in the Lord.  Share how the Lord has provided for you this week or how the church members are caring for you, or what Scripture you are feeding on that day.

In my experience, it floors people when they realize that you are trusting in something other than yourself.  And right there is the opening to share the hope of the Gospel!

I’ve read in many places about the power of the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I’m looking forward to reading the 2 volume biography of him (David Martyn Lloyd-Jones the First Forty Years 1899-1939 (v. 1),David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith 1939-1981 (v. 2)) that I recently purchased to get a better account. Here’s a quick summary from both J.I. Packer and Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ daughter of Dr. Lloyd as written on the 9Marks blog

1. The man deeply felt his conversion.  Dr. Lloyd-Jones never got over the Lord’s mercy to him in saving him and this was clear in his preaching.
2. The underlining issue behind his preaching was the glory of God.  Behind all of his preaching the main point and main issue was always that God be glorified and exalted.  He never treated the Lord casually.
3. He had the presence of a man who dwelt with the Lord in prayer.  When he preached, he sincerely preached as a man that had consistently lingered truly humbly before the Lord and had dwelt on the Truth of God in Scripture.  He brought those meditations and that posture to the people.

The word “missional” is everywhere. Grad Schools. Books. Blogs. It colored my conversation last week with a pastor at Grace Bible. I’ll probably talk about it Friday night over dinner and definitely next week at the Acts 29 Boot Camp in Louisville. It can be a hard word to define, however. Missional means the act of being a missionary, but people can have pretty rigid preconceptions of what a missionary does, especially since most people have never lived as missionaries. If you’ve ever spent time talking to people involved in international missions, it can be hard and tiring work, bearing fruit infrequently and with much difficulty. People don’t want to think of themselves as missionaries because they want the easy way out. They want a program, not a life.

Jonathan Dodson of Austin City Life is currently writing a series on his blog about Why People Aren’t More Missional. Read it. His ideas are challenging and gospel-centered and his recent breakout session at the 2009 Acts 29 Houston Boot Camp could be my favorite talk from all the Acts 29 events, and I’ve listened to all but 3 of them.

Here’s Part 1 of the series

Do you ever struggle in motivation for mission? Do you ever see your people lacking in motivation for mission? After all the shifts in ecclesiology, the planting of many churches, and the landslide of missional literature, why aren’t people more missional? Perhaps it is because we are motivating them with the wrong things.

What should motivate us for mission? There are numerous motivations for mission in the Bible. Many of them can be grouped under three headings that point us to the goal of the gospel, the demands of the gospel, the graces of the gospel. In this first post, I’ll address our missional identity.

Missional Identity

The missio Dei, a Latin phrase meaning, “the sending of God”, reminds us that mission is not merely something we do, an action; it is something God is. Mission is an attribute of God. He’s a sending God. He sends his Son (Easter) and sends his Spirit (Pentecost) to renew the world. So, mission doesn’t start and end with us. It starts and ends with God. His mission is nothing short of the redemption of peoples and cultures, the renewal of all creation for his own glory. It’s God’s great, burdensome, and glorious mission—the renewal of all creation! My goodness, we can’t manage that, but God, in his mercy has invited us to participate in his mission. Through the gospel, He rescues us from a life of self-serving mission to participate in a life of God-serving, Christ-glorifying mission. We are remade into missional people by the redeeming work of the Spirit and the Son.

Therefore, if we are in Christ, we have a missionary identity. We are adopted into a missionary family. We serve a missionary God. Mission becomes part of our identity, because we cut from the cloth of a missionary God. So, the church is a missionary church, with missionary people, that do missionary things. It is who we are and it is also what we do. Mission is not merely for the superspiritual, an option, an appendix to Christian faith. To be Christian is to be on mission.  It’s who we are and it is what we do. We redemptively engage peoples and cultures, by sharing, showing, and embodying Christ in our context. This includes evangelism, social action, and cultural engagement, counseling, empathy, celebration. It’s bringing the renewing power of the whole gospel into the whole city.

Now, the good news of the gospel is that we get to be the blessing of mission, while God carries the burden of mission. Ultimately, it is God’s mission. The Spirit does all the changing; we simply share, show, and embody the wonderfully renewing power of gospel. However, if we aren’t walking with God, keeping in step with the Spirit, and following Christ, out life will hardly be missional. In fact, it will be rife with dangerous disobedience. If you are in Christ, you have a missional identity. To disregard your missionary identity is to reject your identity in Christ. The first motivation is the missio Dei, that mission is in our DNA, our identity. It is who we are in God, through Christ, by the Spirit.

Here’s Part 2

Despite the preponderance of missional church resources, American Christians are slow to live missionally. Why is this? In our last post, we suggested that one reason is that we are motivating the church with best practices of mission, instead of an identity of mission grounded in the Missio Dei. Today, I’d like to suggest another motivation, with a twist.

Any evangelical can tell you that they are supposed to be on mission, but very few are. They can rattle off the Great Commission by memory, while running along no differently. Yet, all four Gospels contain missional mandates from the resurrected, King Jesus himself (Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24/Acts 1, John 16/21)! Why does missional disobedience persist? Perhaps because…

1. We don’t take Jesus seriously. Jesus is our friend, not our Lord.
   
2. We think the missional mandates are for apostles or super Christians only.
3. We have a functional God that we like more than Jesus.
   
4. We believe that mission is optional and that we won’t be judged for our missional disobedience.
5. We don’t actually believe the gospel.

I love the church. I’ve been a part of it almost my whole life and I can bear witness to how God has changed me through it. That is why I’m very excited about our Re:Train class in two days – Missional Ecclesiology, taught by Southern Seminary professor Gregg Allison. The books we read in the pre-class work were engaging and challenging and I’m looking forward to in-class discussions that could find people in different camps (things like elder-ruled vs. elder-led, congregationalism, infant baptism, etc). As a primer for class, Dr. Allison has posted articles for the past two days on TheResurgence.com detailing six characteristics of the missional church.

The first article deals with trinitarian aspects of the church

1. Doxological: Oriented to the Glory of God

The church is doxological, or oriented to the glory of God. Like everything else that God has created—the heavens and the earth (Psalm 19:1; Psalm 108:5), the angelic realm (Psalm 29:1-2), and human beings as the divine image-bearers (Psalm 8:5), the church is characterized by an orientation to give God glory (Ephesians 3:21).

Specifically, the church is to be orthodoxological, or oriented to the proper (Gr. ortho) glory (Gr. doxa) of God. Implied in this imperative is the possibility for the church to engage in false glory giving, or idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 John 5:20-21; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4). Manifestations of the church’s false gods include money, power, societal approbation, its pastor or its programs, political persuasion, size, and the like. The church must avoid such idolatry and be oriented to the proper glory of God.

2. Logocentric: Focused on the Word

The church is logocentric, or focused on the logos, the Word, understood in two senses to refer to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, and Scripture, the inspired Word of God. As for the first sense, the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, took on the fullness of human nature and became the incarnate God-man, Jesus Christ John 1:1, John 1:14). He promised, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18), and he is its cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20) and its head (Ephesians 1:20-23). The church is centered on this incarnate Word of God.

In the second sense of logos, the church is Word-centered in that it focuses on Scripture, the inspired Word of God. This inspired, sufficient, necessary, truthful (inerrant), clear, authoritative, and productive Word announces salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), brings new birth (1 Peter 1:23), ignites faith (Romans 10:13-17), presents sound doctrine and equips the church for good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and, while providing cohesion and nourishment for the church, also destabilizes it by confronting its many sins. The church is centered on this inspired Word of God.

3. Pneumadynamic: Empowered by the Spirit

The church is pneumadynamic, or created, gathered, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He inaugurated the first church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-5), and this church in Jerusalem multiplied and expanded through the evangelistic centrifugal movement orchestrated by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). In these churches, the Spirit distributes spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11) for “the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7), while also being the creator and sustainer of unity (Ephesians 4:3) by supplying genuine love among church members (Romans 15:30; Colossians 1:8) and fostering an atmosphere of righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17). Certain members are installed as leaders in the church by the appointment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28; Acts 13:2-3). Thus, the church is Spirit-activated.

The second article deals with the “gatheredness and sendedness of the church”.

4. Covenantal: Relationship with God and Others

The church is covenantal, or gathered as members in new covenant relationship with God and in covenant relationship with each other. As for the first covenantal aspect, the new covenant:

1. is a unilateral agreement, established by God and God alone
2. creates a structured relationship between him and his covenant partners, Christ-followers “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9)
3. features binding obligations on the part of both God and his covenant partners (e.g., 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; Matthew 22:37-40; Matthew 28:19-10; Galatians 6:2)
4. is sealed by two covenantal signs, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

As for the second covenantal aspect, the new covenant places church members into relationship with one another (Ephesians 4:17-5:14). This aspect may be best expressed by means of a church covenant, an agreement that binds those who affirm it to life together in the church.

5. Confessional: United by Common Faith

The church is confessional, or united by both personal confession of faith in Christ and common confession of the historic Christian faith. All church members must have a credible profession of faith in Christ as they have heard about his person and work through the gospel (Romans 10:8-13). This aspect is the act of faith that leads to salvation.

Additionally, the church as a corporate assembly regularly makes a common confession of the Christian faith (e.g., 1 Timothy 3:15-16), professing together the sound doctrine that unites the church (Ephesians 4:4-6) and brings it to maturity while keeping it from going adrift (Ephesians 4:13-15). This aspect is the content of the Christian faith that marks the church throughout the ages.

6. Missional: Divinely Called and Sent

As discussed above, the church is missional, or identified as the body of divinely-called and divinely-sent ministers to proclaim the gospel and advance the kingdom of God.

7. Historical Reality, Future Hope

The church is spatio-temporal-eschatological (here and not-here, oralready but not yet), or assembled as a historical reality (located in space and time) and possessing a certain hope and clear destiny (eschatology) while it lives the strangeness of its existence in the here-and-now. Christians meet together to worship God “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24) in local churches that, while they may be anywhere (that is, the location is not the issue; John 4:20-21), they are always somewhere also. This spatial characteristic means that the church takes up physical space—often a building—and prompts reflection on an important question: Does this physical space advance or obstruct what the church is seeking to be and do?

Legacy

The temporal element means that a church has a heritage that goes before the current manifestation of gathered people, and this legacy exerts a powerful influence for either good or bad on the current expression of the church. Additionally, if the Lord wills, the church will have a future that goes beyond the current manifestation of gathered people, and this hope prompts reflection on what kind of reputation this current expression of the church will bequeath to its next iteration.

Sojourners

Beyond its being “here,” the church is also “not here,” in that what the church experiences now is only a foretaste, a down payment, of a promise of yet more to come. The church lives in a “boundary epoch” between the two advents of Jesus Christ, so it is composed of strangers and aliens (1 Peter 1:11), sojourners who are in the world and for the world, but not of the world. The eschatological church awaits a greater reality (Revelation 21-22).

When I heard that Brian McLaren was going to observe Ramadan I was blown away. It is blasphemy for Christian to participate in a practice that is worship of a false God.  USA Today wrote an interesting article about the controversy. Nice to read Al Mohler and Mark Driscoll proclaiming the truth. I do want to quibble with part of the article, though. Eric Gorski, the author write

There is disagreement among evangelicals about whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God

That’s a fast statement. You can’t be an evangelical and believe that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. You can’t even be a Christian and believe that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Christians believe that God eternally exists in three persons – God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit and Muslims do not believe this.

As the emerging and liberal church seek to be more palatable to the world, this is the kind of heresy that is bound to increase. May we be bold to proclaim the truth.

In anticipation of being assessed as a church planter, I wonder how I will respond if my “grade” on the assessment indicates that church planting isn’t the most appropriate ministry for how God has made me. Maybe I’m better suited to pastor or replant an existing church. I don’t know, but I’m definitely praying about it.  This post from Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 Network Blog provides helpful thoughts when Envisioning a Replant.

1. Envision what the worship gathering could be (Acts 2:42-47).
   • Attitude of body during worship
   • Music
   • Prayer
   • Teaching
   • Communion
   • Children
   • Exaltation of God
   • Incorporation of arts
2. Envision what the evangelism could be (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
   • Who can you reach immediately?
   • What attitudes toward evangelism need to change?
   • Where or how could you boldly make an impact with the gospel?
   • What steps of faith need to be taken to reach the unchurched and the unsaved?
   • How could your youth evangelize?
   • How could households evangelize together?
   • What worldwide impact could you make as a body (i.e. foreign missions)?
   • How are you going to be an eternal value to your community?
3. Envision how education and discipleship could be effective (Acts 2:42).
   • How will it become a passionate pursuit of the body (“continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine,” Acts 2:42)?
   • What resources (people, qualities, gifts) do you have in place to launch greater disciple-making?
   • How will the fathers and heads of households (single moms, etc.) be trained to be the priest and spiritual head of their homes?
   • How will the older men and women teach and interact with the younger men and women? (Titus 2)
   • Will the age groups be segregated (children, youth, singles, college, married, etc.) or will they be integrated into the body?
   • What role will small groups play?
   • What training will be needed to help develop disciples who are passionately pursuing Christ?
4. Envision an Acts 2 commitment to fellowship (Acts 2:44-45).
   • In what ways will the body seek to meet the needs of one another (spiritual, social, financial, physical)?
   • What attitudes need to change to be sacrificially generous with time, money and resources for the encouragement and edification of the body?
   • How will the body serve one another actively and responsively in an unprompted way?
   • What will the membership requirements be? How will it communicate a covenantal commitment?
5. Envision an effective youth and children’s ministry.
   • Will they be integrated into the church ministry? If so, how?
   • How will families be strengthened through the student ministry?
   • How will the youth be encouraged and trained to evangelize their friends?
   • What role will the heads of households play in the student ministry?
   • Who (person or groups) will lead the youth and children’s ministry?
   • What facility changes are needed to communicate the value of children and youth?
   • What other positions of leadership need to be filled to be effective?
   • What leadership development with the students will be put into place?
   • What programs or customs need to be extracted from the youth and children’s ministry to avoid distractions from the ministry goals?
6. Envision an equipping staff (Eph. 4:11-13).
   • What changes need to be made with the staff (paid or volunteer) to meet the church’s goals?
   • Are the staff members doing the ministry or leading people to do the ministry? If they are doing the bulk of the ministering, how will they develop the body to do the work of the ministry?
   • Are you over-staffed or under-staffed to meet both financial obligations and the development of lay people (taking responsibility for ministry)?
7. Envision a body not reacting to finances to determine God’s call (Matt. 6:24).
   • How will faith in God calling a body to reach out to the community and world be weighed against financial responsibility and stewardship?
   • If mortgages or debts exist, how will they be paid off in a realistic way over a reasonable time period?
   • What attitudes or practices about money and finances need to be changed?
   • Is a budget in place? Is it a true reflection of the church’s giving and spending (balanced budget)?
   • What expenses can be cut immediately to be redirected toward the church’s mission?
   • Is the body (especially the leadership) making decisions based on finances or on God’s calling?
   • What creative ways can you generate more income without sacrificing resources, biblical principles, or expending paid personnel?

This week is our second Re:Train class, Missional Christology, taught by Dr. Bruce Ware, a professor of Christian Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our pre-class work included reading four books

• Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper
• Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance by Bruce Ware
• Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution by Jeffrey, Ovey, and Sach
• Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology edited by Sanders and Issler

This class will be intense, but I’m really looking forward to learning more about Missional Christology. But, you may ask, what is Missional Christology? Well, here’s Dr. Ware’s explanation from TheResurgence.com.

“Missional Christology” focuses on aspects of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ which are central to the mission he fulfilled, by the ordination of the Father, in the power of the Spirit. Christology is relevant to the mission of the church because we are called to express and extend the mission of Christ. His mission is now ours.

The Father’s Plan

Understanding the Person and Work of Christ as missional is crucial and central to understanding Jesus and his work correctly. The mission of the Son began long before his going to the cross, or his baptism, or even his incarnation. The mission of the Son began in eternity past when the Father devised his plan by which the Son would be preeminent over the created world the Father designed, planned, and willed to create.

As the Father chose the Son to be his Agent by which creation would come into being, so the Father chose the Son to be his Agent by which re-creation also would come to pass. The Son’s mission, then, was from eternity past the mission of one thing—he sought in all that he thought and felt and said and did to do the will of his Father.

Divine Empowerment

But to accomplish this mission, the Son had to take on human nature and live as one of us. While he was fully God, he also was fully man. And as man, he needed divine empowerment to obey the Father, resist temptation, and fulfill the mission the Father sent him to carry out. The Spirit’s indwelling presence and power on the Son was necessary for the Son to accomplish what he did. Only as the Spirit-anointed Messiah could this Christ be our Savior.

To see the mission of the Son correctly requires that we see him in Trinitarian context. Both the Person and the Work of the Son are fully inexplicable apart from seeing the Son’s relation to the Father and the Spirit. Getting the Trinity right is crucial to getting the mission of the Son right.

Christ’s Mission

So, the Son was sent by the Father and empowered by the Spirit—but to do what? Here we realize that the Son’s mission was about regaining the lost creation through the salvation of the elect and his victory over the powers of darkness. At the core of the Son’s accomplishment are the dual biblical themes of penal substitution and Christus Victor. His payment for sin and victory over sin constitute the basis for the fulfillment of all that the Father sent the Son to do.

Spirit-Empowered Disciples

Amazingly, the mission of the Son does not end, though, with his efficacious death for sin or his victorious resurrection from the dead. Rather, this is where the mission of the Son moves more clearly from “singular” to “plural.” His singular sinless life and singular substitutionary death now give way to plural ministry as he now completes his mission with, and only with, the joint-work of his followers. Jesus’ last words to his disciples instruct them to wait in Jerusalem for what the Father has promised. They will be granted the very same Holy Spirit invading their lives as had been indwelling and empowering Christ throughout his life and ministry. They will proclaim his message, display his character, perform his deeds, and further his mission only as they are Spirit-empowered followers of the Son.

The Great Drama

In the end, he will return to complete his mission of remaking everything such that it becomes more glorious and magnificent than it was originally. Just as the second Adam surpasses the first, the new Eden surpasses the original. Christ will take his rightful place as Supreme Victor over all, and we, his saved followers and friends, will reign with him forever and ever.

What a story this “missional Christology” is! What drama. What majesty. What glory. To see the mission of the Son as his-mission-become-ours should result in stirring within us the longing to do as Christ did. As his mission was the mission of one thing—to do the will of his Father in the power of the Spirit—so ours likewise should be the mission of one thing—to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit, doing all we do in obedience to him, to the praise and glory of the Father.

Posted by Michael on the Sojourn Church Planting Blog as gleaned from the last session in the Foundations course from Global Church Advancement church planter training

1. A Biblical View of Success:
   - A false view of success involves having big numbers and a lot of money
   - A false view of success usually is quantitative and not qualitative
   - A false view of success is built around career achievement and professional recognition
   - A biblical view of success is measured in terms of faithfulness
   - A biblical view of success involves finding one’s identity in Christ, not in finding one’s identity in one’s success.
2. Managing Your Time vs Managing Your Life:
   - Do not prioritize your schedule, but schedule your priorities
   - Spend more time with God and with your family
   - Maybe you can show your faith in God by working less and stop trying to do so much
3. Understand the Difference Between Your Goals & Desires:
   - Goals are within your control while desires are not
   - Work for your goals; pray for your desires
   - Sharing your faith this week 5 times is a goal, but having 100 in your church by next month is a desire
4. Pursuing the Grace of God or the God of Grace?
   - What is the ultimate quest of your life? God or a successful ministry?
   - “Is God a means of grace in your life and ministry or is grace a means to God?”- John Piper
   - Yes, you are God’s servant and soldier, but you are also his son
5. The Way Up is the Way Down:
   - “God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble. ” James 4:6.
   - The more you humble yourself the more God will be glorified in your life and church community.
   - Live a life of repentance.
6. The Priority of People Over Programs:
   - Jesus’ plan to reach the world with the gospel was to invest his life in people.
   - Show your love for Jesus by loving his people (See John 21:15-17)
7. Process Living vs Product Living:
   - Do not live for the “Next Big Thing.”
   - 99% of life is process and only 1% is product
   - Learn to find joy in the process of living each day
8. Making the Main Thing the Main Thing:
   - The main thing is not ministry
   - The main thing is loving God and loving people (Matt 22:37-39)