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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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)
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
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)
Biblical Worship is the response of God’s redeemed people to His self-revelation that exalts God’s glory in Christ in our mind, affections, and wills in the power of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The passage above is commonly known as “The Great Commission”. Jesus spoke these words to his followers before ascending back to heaven to be with the Father. His followers were left to discover the Holy Spirit and to change the world through one simple process – making and multiplying disciples [learners] of Jesus. Many people teach on this passage… most of us don’t regularly obey it. Below are five of the more common myths about the Great Commission that lead us to miss out on disciple making.
The myth of accidental discipleship. The bottom line here is that the Great Commission will be completed only by intentional action and resoluteness. Jesus commands us today to set our eyes on the goal of disciple making and pursue that goal with stubborn focus. This means, that unless you pray and plan to make disciples, you won’t do it!
Crossing cultures is a step beyond the general mandate. Jesus left his home (with the Father), his culture, his language, his people (the trinity) to come to our home (earth), to our people, to speak our language, to grow up in a Jewish culture, and so on. Jesus was a cross-cultural missionary and he commands us to follow in his steps, cross any boundary, live incarnationally and make disciples.
Jesus wants converts.
The most interesting thing about the Great Commission is that it does not command us to make converts of Christianity. Instead, we are to make disciples of Jesus. The difference between convert making and disciple making is crucial. Converts change religions. Disciples change masters. Converts follow a system. Disciples follow a Person. Converts build Christendom. Disciples build the Kingdom of God. Converts embrace rituals. Disciples embrace a way of life. Converts love the command to “baptize them” in the Great Commission, but that is all. Disciples baptize others but only in context of “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. Converts love conversion. Disciples love transformation.
When I am ready and able, I will start making disciples. I think Jesus knew the gravity of the command that he was giving in Matthew 28:19-20; he was asking his followers, most of them unlearned and lower/middle class, to go every conceivable people group on earth by multiplying disciples of a Person who is physically unseen (after giving the Great Commission, Jesus ascended to heaven). This is a heavy-duty command! The reason I think that Jesus knew the gravity of this command is that he buffers his commandment here with two powerful promises of His authority and presence. Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” Matthew 28:20b, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”. In the Great Commission, Jesus gives a command along with a promise of His power and presence.To completely put off practicing the process of making disciples now in your life because you claim that you need more equipping or growth, therefore, is actually unbelief in God’s promises! Is having the promise of Jesus’ power and presence not good enough for you to get started in the process of making disciples?
Making disciples is great advice. The fact is, though, that the Great Commission is a commandment coupled with the commissioning of Jesus. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Jesus expressed the same truth inversely, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36, italics added). In other words, the measure of one’s love for Jesus is one’s obedience to Jesus!You cannot love Jesus and not obey him. Stated inversely, you cannot disregard the Great Commission and claim to love Jesus. The command is simple, “go and make disciples”. Ask yourself, “Am I currently making disciples of others?” If not, why not ask yourself, “Will I today commit myself to beginning the process of making disciples of Jesus?”
Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, one of the fastest-growing churches in America. He is president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and is the author of several books, including Vintage Jesus.
In the first three months of 2008, Driscoll preached a sermon series on nine different topics, which were culled from 893 submissions and voted on 343,203 times. This was the first sermon series from Mars Hill that I watched online and I was struck by many things, notably Driscoll’s preaching ability, the depth of material in the sermons, and the omnipresence of the Cross in everything that he preached. The Q&A’s that followed the last Sunday sermon contain challenging questions that Driscoll answered on the spot and his answers where pastoral, thoughtful, and biblical.
The Religion Saves sermon series became a book, part of the Re:Lit series, and I received a copy of the book to read and review a few weeks ago as part of a Blog Tour (here’s the blog tour schedule). I’m going to break out my review by chapter, listing both my thoughts and an embedded video of the corresponding sermon.
Chapter 1: Birth Control
This chapter has significant value for its pastoral approach to birth control and has a tremendous amount of technical information that is incredibly helpful to the subject. Especially helpful is the breakdown of levels of birth control. In an age where many churches are unwilling to discuss the topic of abortion, for fear of appearing intolerant, Driscoll takes an uncompromising stance on abortion, referring to it as “the sin of murder (p 40)”
Chapter 2: Humor
This was my least favorite chapter. Much has been written about Driscoll’s somewhat course tongue and many prominent Christian leaders have taken him to task. This chapter is a defense of humor in the pulpit. Humor is an area that I personally would be more conservative than Driscoll on, but he does bring some needed levity to the conversation through illustrations in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Predestination
Tremendously helpful chapter about a difficult topic using OT and NT references. The illustration at the end about pulling his daughter out of traffic being similar to “God the Father reaching down to me through Jesus” is powerful.
Chapter 4: Grace
For people who struggle with the thought of God giving them something good that they do not merit, this chapter provides ample support for the concept of grace appearing throught the Bible.
Chapter 5: Sexual Sin
Another chapter that will be of tremendous benefit to pastors and those in recovery ministries. Driscoll’s call for celibacy outside of marriage and monogramy in marriage is counter-cultural, and completely Biblical. He also accurately diagnoses society’s worship of sex and how that “worship” is fed by prostitution and pornography
Chapter 6: Faith and Works
This chapter is jammed packed with Scripture, and for good reason. The contrast of faith and works has been debated since the beginning of time and Driscoll does a great job of showing the necessity of both. Much of the chapter is focused on “God’s regernating work in the new heart of those who are born again as Christians to a thoroughly new life. (p 169)”. Driscoll’s connection of a regenerated heart enabling us to do good works is very helpful.
Chapter 7: Dating
Challenging, challenging chapter, especially Driscoll’s discussion of the different methods of dating. I must admit that this chapter, and the sermon on which it was based, have almost completely convinced me that “courtship” is the pattern of male/female relationships that Julie and I will be using in our family. Also helpful are the “Christian dating” questions that each gender should ask as they seek to enter into a relationship. Before I was married, I was as guilty as anyone of not pursing women with a godly intent. This chapter is an excellent rebuke and an exhortation to glorify God in all that we do.
Chapter 8: Emerging Church
I’ve read a ton on this topic, so this chapter had a lot of repetition. For people who are drawn to the writing of Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, and Rob Bell, Driscoll includes quotes from their work and interviews that are cause for concern and do seem to indicate some departure from orthodox Christianity. Using direct quotes keeps this chapter from being one big rant, instead making it seem very balanced and fair.
Chapter 9: Regulative Principle
This very short chapter is actually focused on what is right worship. Driscoll discusses the Normative Principle (church worship includes everything prescribed in the Bible and anything not prohibited by the Bible), the Regulative Principle (church worship includes only things prescribed in the Bible), and Missional Worship Principle (which seems a lot like the Normative Principle). His concern throughout is not necessarily the principle that we use for worship, but the object of our worship, namely God.
Concluding Thoughts
I enjoyed reading this book, but having watched all the sermons already, it wasn’t as “new” an experience as someone else would have. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It’s a pretty quick read and provides thoroughly footnoted and researched items. Looking to the future when I will, Lord willing, be planting a church in Ann Arbor, I can definitely see myself coming back to certain chapters in this book for pastoral assistance.
Blurb about the book
After 343,203 online votes on the Mars Hill Church website, nine questions for Pastor Mark Driscoll emerged as the ones most urgently calling for answers.
Inspiredby 1 Corinthians, in which Paul answers a series of questions posed by the people in the Corinthian church, Pastor Mark Driscoll set out to determine the most controversial questions among visitors to the MarsHillChurchwebsite. In the end, 893 questions were asked and 343,203 votes were cast. The top nine questions are now each answered in a chapter of Religion Saves.
After an introductory chapter devoted to the misconception that religion is what saves us, Driscoll tackles nine issues: birth control, humor, predestination, grace, sexual sin, faith and works, dating, the emerging church, and the regulative principle. Becausethe purpose of this book is to address commonly asked questions, all readers will find relevant, engaging material, written in Driscoll’s distinctively edgy, yet theologically sound style.
In his distinctively edgy, yet theologically sound style, Pastor Mark Driscoll addresses the nine most controversial questions posed by visitors to theMarsHillChurchwebsite. This book is part of the Re:Lit series.
Your beach companions will think you’re prepping for Sunday school or family devotions. You’ll actually be learning plenty yourself from an unusually gifted theologian equally adept at teaching seminary students and young children.
Maybe you should wait to read this book on a rainy day when you can’t go to the beach. Horton, a discerning and clear-thinking theologian, diagnoses what ills American believers, including consumerism, individualism, and nationalism.
Biographies make for a quick, engaging read. Cook explores the times that gave us Bunyan, the pastor and prisoner whose best-selling The Pilgrim’s Progress brought theology to the masses.
Venerable historian Noll expands on the contributions of missiologist Andrew Walls to show how American Christianity has shaped the rapidly expanding global church.
The senior counsel for Americans United for Life advocates the neglected virtue of prudence for fighting abortion. His timing is impeccable for Christians dealing with the ramifications of George Tiller’s murder.
Theology has always confronted and conformed to the intellectual trends of its cultural context. Like some early Christian apologists, Reynolds draws connections between Hebrew theology and the Greek philosophy so popular in ancient Rome. He even dares to recommend cooperation between faith and reason in order to save Western civilization.
Read for yourself what all the fuss is about. Bring along the handy chart from the June issue of Christianity Today to compare Wright with his chief critic, John Piper. Justification is too important to be left to professional theologians, so bring your Bible, too, and trace the sometimes-complex arguments.
The authors of the award-winning Why We’re Not Emergent return to tackle another set of theological innovators. Whether committed, disgruntled, waffling, or disconnected from the local church, this book will help you love the bride of Christ.
Want to celebrate the summer of John Calvin’s 500th birthday? Then read about the history of the doctrine most closely associated with him. You’ll see just how far theology can stretch over space and time.
Readers rave at Moore’s ability to link important theological concepts with contemporary concerns. But you better handle this book delicately. You might return home from the beach with a new calling that will change your family’s life.
Here is the audio from the discussion that Ligon Duncan and Tim Keller had at the 2009 PCA GA concerning the role of women and the deaconate. One of the most significant points in the discussion, in my opinion, was Ligon’s brief exposition of Acts 6. While there is some debate as to whether deacons are in view there or not, Duncan made the observation that men were ministering to women (i.e. the widows mentioned there). This is significant because many egalitarians insist that women need to be the ones ministering to women. Duncan followed up his observation with a strong pastoral note, calling men to care deeply for the needs of the women in the church. It is certainly true that Acts 6 is not prescriptive, but it is certainly descriptive. One cannot argue that there were women chosen from among the seven, but you can most certainly assert that men were. This only serves to strengthen ones understanding of the prescriptive passages.There were many other helpful observations from both Duncan and Keller in the discussion. I’d love to know what you think after you listen to it.
You should also look at the aritcles that these men submitted to By Faith Magazine on the subject.Tim Keller’s article “The Case for Comissioning (Not Ordaining) Deaconesses” can be found here. Ligon Duncan’s article “The Case for Our Current Policy on Women Deacons” can be found here.
by Bruce Ware
by Michael Horton
by Faith Cook
by Mark A. Noll
by Clarke Forsythe
by John Mark Reynolds
by N. T. Wright
by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck
by Peter Thuesen
by Russell Moore
