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.
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
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?
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?
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?
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?
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)?
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
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
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.
by John Piper
by Bruce Ware
by Jeffrey, Ovey, and Sach
edited by Sanders and Issler