The Practicality of Mission

For the purposes of this post, I define "mission" as Mark Driscoll does in Confessions of a Reformission Rev. – Christians being a missionary to their local culture.

Simply put, there is plenty of inward-focused discipleship without much outward contextualization in the church today. At best, there is the occasional “special event” in hopes that the congregation brings friends who stay long-term. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to discipleship - in fact, I often wonder if we're even doing that very well today in order to train our people to evangelize. And while I’m not against the practice of evangelistic events, I am opposed to lack of dedicated missonal outreach. I once worked at a church that was in a 65% Hispanic community with three Hispanics in attendance on Sunday mornings. This church was also in a community that was in large majority under the age of 40 with less than 20 members under that age (including children). Imagine being a 28-year old Hispanic walking through our doors.

It is the role and responsibility of the local church to reach its community. If the church fails, society fails. The world will find a place or community to have their needs me and we must - for lack of a better phrase - compete for their attention. The natural inclination of the world is to chase the world. We must find a way to adapt to the demographic that we are in while not compromising Scripture. It would be great if you could even be multi-ethnic and flourishing from ages 15 all the way to 75, but let’s start with our community context. It doesn't necessarily have to be a certain school or business (though it could be), but a starting point is to intentionally get to know those within a relatively close radius of your people.

We tend to view missionaries as those who parachute into the remote villages of Africa. We use the excuse that culture doesn’t easily accept the gospel. We let our natural insecurities hinder us. We argue that we do not have enough time. I've even heard people use Satan as an excuse. In fact, we should expect Satan to use all obstacles against our efforts; but Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 places mission on all of our lives regardless of where we are. It is a call that the Christian simply cannot ignore.

Here are some practical ways to get on mission (for both the church and the individual):

1. Pray, pray, pray – The most obvious and crucial step is to seek God’s will and blessing. You must be on board with his Kingdom and what he is doing, not what you yourself want to happen. There are many (most) times when our plans are not his. Beg the Holy Spirit to empower you.
2. Understand your Bible – It is no good for you, your hearers, your church, or the Kingdom if you do not know what you believe. Sound doctrine is crucial to your evangelistic efforts. There is no point in hitting the streets of your community if you cannot answer the hard questions that the seekers, the skeptics, and the all-out opposition will throw at you (Col. 4:6).
3. Be well-learned and prepared to reach them – The next most obvious but crucial step is to find out who is in your community, both by getting out and meeting people and by looking at statistics that can be found by a simple Google search. There are more resources on demographics (income, race, age, religion, etc.), becoming missional churches, and everyday evangelism than you could imagine. Find them. Study them. Rinse. Repeat.
4. Love them – Perhaps the most difficult part is to simply love people. Our depraved nature prevents us from being naturally drawn toward it, but our new nature in Christ empowers us to do it anyway. In the aforementioned church that I was on staff at, we could not get our older white crowd to get on mission in the Hispanic community because they did not want to love them. It is not our church, our gospel, or our Kingdom - it is all God’s. If you think someone is below your efforts, you are forgetting how low Jesus had to become in order to reach you. The world is looking for relationships, not conforming rules. Let's give it to them!

God the Judge? Living Condemned

One of the most devastating effects of the pursuit of holiness can often be our propensity to believe that our sin draws God’s anger. This belief will result in a practical theology which assumes that God’s discipline in our lives is punitive; in other words that His discipline is evidence of some displeasure which is earned by our disobedience. It is amazing to me how many believers struggle with this unfortunate theology. This belief is personal because I know how often I’ve struggled with it myself.

The result of this theology is a feeling of consistent defeat, an improper fear of God and general difficulty in making progress in the Gospel. It is a serious and consistent threat to the growth of the Gospel in any church who places an emphasis on growing in the Gospel.

Romans 8:1 reminds us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus“. This simple truth is incredibly liberating to the believer. It is a reminder that we cannot be condemned for our behavior. Yes, God absolutely disciplines those He loves, but His discipline is not punitive – instead it is imperative that we understand His discipline is corrective. This little truth makes all the difference in the world.

When we view God’s discipline as punitive in nature; in other words God is punishing us because we have disobeyed, we are essentially engaging in a functional denial of the sufficiency of the cross of Jesus Christ. We are denying the importance of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Let me try to explain.

2 Corinthians 5:21 points out “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is a strong reminder that Christ assumed our sins on the cross. He did this in order to carry the wrath of God, toward sin. When Christ died on the cross He assumed the wrath of God for our sin, past, present and future.

When we believe that God is punishing us for our sin, we are essentially denying the death of Christ on the cross and His atonement for our sin. We are arguing that His sacrifice is not enough. We still need more to be right with God. In effect, we become our own functional saviors. We are in essence saving ourselves through our own “deserved” punishment. This pursuit of self-righteousness can also appear in our lives as we mistreat ourselves believing that this is somehow both deserved and right. We can even convince ourselves that God is pleased with our self-treatment because we are “taking sin seriously“. The problem is that while we may think we are taking sin seriously, we are not taking God’s word seriously. We are denying the Gospel in our lives.

So, this theology is profound and extremely important. If we are to progress in the Gospel, to become like Christ, we must recognize that God disciplines His children, most definitely, but that He does so to make us like Jesus, not because He is angry with us. That His discipline is the act of a loving Father shaping us to be righteous, not the act of a condemning judge rightly dispensing justice because we have earned it.

So, let us celebrate the sufficiency of the cross. Let us triumph in the freedom from condemnation, and let us receive God’s loving discipline as a sign of His affection and His desire to help us become shaped like Jesus. (see Romans 8:29) Your very growth in the Gospel depends on it.

What Does it Mean to Make a Brother Stumble?

One of the things that always comes up when you speak of tattoos, smoking, drinking, et al. is the issue of making a brother stumble to show why one should abstain from doing those things at all. When one proof texts and reads current culture into the passages, they seem to have a great point and one that kept me under a heavy yoke for some time. What actually ended up happening is that this so called "weaker brother" kept me under his yoke of conscience instead of me being able to seek out Christ and his easy yoke and burden that is light. I kept trying to refrain from certain things because I was always worried that I would make a brother stumble and was so consumed by this, my life was more about the weaker brother and his issues than the glorifying of God in my actions and actually loving the weaker brother.

We have extremes here that need to be pointed out. One extreme is like the one mentioned above, where we worry about everything, whether it is sin or not and abstain from it all. The other extreme is we say, "screw the weaker brother" and we do whatever we want without care. Like most orthopraxy, extremes suck and fly in the face of Christ and his cross and, so, we need to find the correct balance and test it to Scripture. I want to do some defining to search out how we should live within the context of the weaker brother and what it means to make him stumble.

First, What is a "Weaker Brother"?

We find the main passages concerning the weaker brother in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 and also in Romans 14. The weaker brother is the one who wishes to abstain from certain things. They are not the mature in the body, but they are the weak needing care. These people would be those who abstain from things that are not sinful, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, getting tattoos and of course eating meat sacrificed to idols. But, if you know the context of 1 Corinthians 8, 10 and Romans 14 we are not speaking of people who have merely been told that these things were sinful, but have a deep bond that ties the conscience to them. The weaker brother would be someone who has been addicted to smoking or alcohol, or who has a family history of addiction to these things. The weaker brother would be someone who came from a tribe who used to tattoo themselves for the sake of their pagan gods. The weaker brother is one who was in an idolatrous nation that sacrificed meat to gods for worship. These things are deeply entrenched in who they are and what they are about. These things identify them with the "old self."

The weaker brother is NOT someone who has issue with these things because of their culture and how they were brought up. One is not a mere weaker brother because they have always been taught that smoking is a sin or that drinking alcohol is a sin. Paul goes much deeper than this and is found when he uses the term to "destroy" the weaker brother (which we will handle later).

Paul and Jerusalem Council are dealing with a much deeper issue than someone not liking meat sacrificed to idols, they were dealing with an issue that was deeply ingrained in the people that practiced idolatry in a way that was demonic and part of every day life that associated one with the devil. Again, it would be the same as getting a tattoo for the dead in Leviticus 19:28 to worship some pagan deity. This was binding on the conscience, not because it was "odd" to them, or they were uncomfortable with it, but they were dealing with demonic opposition and something that identified them with their old self when their father was the devil.

So, the weaker brother is not merely some nutcase that wants you to abstain from something they don't like, the weaker brother is someone who is coming from an old life in sin, that is dealing with those things associated directly with their sin. Again, think of pagan worship in sacrifices when thinking of 1 Corinthians 8,10 and Romans 14.

Making the Weaker Brother Stumble

Now that we see what is means to be a weaker brother, we need to look at making that brother stumble. This term stumble is used almost synonymously with Paul using the term "destroy". Paul isn't speaking of making someone look at you in a light that is odd. It isn't making someone uncomfortable, but it is literally making them stumble into sin. It would be like you handing someone a beer that you know is an alcoholic and telling them to drink. You, in your freedom, have made the weaker brother stumble or have destroyed them. The thought is putting something (a rock) in the road that they are walking on so that they will trip and severely hurt themselves.

People use this for all sorts of things, as though we must have a swivel on our heads to make sure people don't look at us and think we are sinning. This isn't what Paul is speaking on. If this is the case, then Jesus was a sinner. He did things all the time that made people think he was a sinner, but he didn't make them sin. Think of the Pharisees of those that wear suits to church, don't drink, don't smoke, don't play cards, don't watch certain movies, listen to certain music. They do this so that they "will not make someone stumble", but in reality are showing that your sanctification and righteousness comes in what you don't do instead of whom you trust in. Jesus was not for this. What is interesting is that the term "stumble" can be both positive and negative. You can make someone stumble into sin, or make them stumble into righteousness.

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

1 Peter 2:6-8

This is the point that no one actually brings up. If someone is trying to be self righteous in their abstention, the best thing you can do is be a stumbling block to them so that they can see that Christ is the corner stone of their faith, not their abstention for self righteousness. This brother, that abstains for the sake of self righteousness (which none of them will admit) is not the weaker brother, but the prideful brother that needs to be shown their sinful acts. This is why Jesus didn't care if he drank in public, ate with the sinners and loved the hookers. He did it partly to show the self righteous Pharisees their stupidity. We find further evidence of this when Peter has his vision and then eats with the Gentiles. Notice what the self righteous Jews do.

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

Acts 11:2

Did Peter then decide to abstain from eating with them? No, he corrected their self righteous thoughts by telling them the vision of God and using this an opportunity to show the gospel to them. Here is the key: someone who loves Jesus and not their self righteous deeds will react to this by not condemning the brother living in his freedom but will praise God.

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Acts 11:18

Could this have been a stone of stumbling for these Jews? Yes. Did Peter refrain, or teach? He taught. Their reaction is an insight to their heart towards the love of God. They reject their self righteousness and cling to their new found Saviour.

So, Now What?

How are we to handle this then? You will notice that Paul has a huge point that he makes when speaking of refraining, and it does not mean that he will refrain always, only when he is knowingly among those whom bears a conscience against meat sacrificed to idols. People like to use Paul's hyperbolic term to bear witness against this when Paul says, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." Paul is using this in speaking to someone he is directly in relationship with at all times, not for the sake of believers out there somewhere who have issues with this. Meaning, if Timothy had issues with this, Paul would never eat meat in fellowship with Timothy. He doesn't mean, he will literally never touch meat again. We see this clearly in the following:

If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake — the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:27-31

Paul states to enjoy your freedom, but to refrain when among someone who has a conscience against something. So, if I am going to a nation of tribes who once used tattoos to worship their god, I will cover up my tattoos. I will do this because this is something that is personal to them and hard for them to take. I will also cover up my tattoos if I go into a home where I know tattoos used to be a way for the person to sin against God in rebellion and they are trying to refrain from such things. I do this with those I KNOWINGLY have deep issues with certain things that is related and identified to their old life of sin. So is the case with having a vegan over to my house, an alcoholic or someone who was addicted to smoking.

But, it doesn't stop here. You don't just refrain when you see these people, but you take the opportunity to teach them. You must teach the weaker, and not allow them to "turn you" into their weaker conscience. This was huge for the ministry of Christ. He was the one teaching the weaker, the weaker were not teaching him to turn to their ways. So, we should deal with the gospel with these people and love and aid them to the grace and freedom found at the cross.

Refrain out of love and teach out of love so that they may be won to the victory of the cross. There is a balance here. But, to throw out the "you might make a brother stumble" has become another way to control the actions of others to make them think they are more righteous. This is sin and contrary to the gospel. Also, those who freely do whatever they want without taking consideration of the TRUE weaker brother and don't take the opportunity to teach them in word and action what the Gospel is truly about, also sin.

We must live and teach the gospel to others without allowing them to bound up our actions so that we find the gospel as a restrictive gospel instead of a freeing one.

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Matthew 11:29-30

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Cross-posted from Seth's former personal blog.

Big Book Giveaway (Round 2) WINNERS

Thank you all for entering! It's a great blessing to be able to provide resources with the help of Crossway (Round 1) and now Broadman and Holman.

THE WINNERS:

• The HCSB Study Bible... Thomas Perry!
• The Mission of God Study Bible... Josh Evans!
• Gospel and Embracing Obscurity... Barry Wallace!
• The Church and Tribal Church... Michael Gerald!
• Creation Restored and Seven Daily Sins... Wes Lauderback!

Watch out for more giveaways! We're always working to offer free, gospel-centered resources to our friends.

John Owen, Sin, and Temptation

"Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated."

- John Owen

It seems as though our culture has mastered the art of stepping as closely to the edge of the cliff as possible without falling into the canyon. Inevitably, culture can and will creep into our churches, causing Christians to adopt the same ideals about temptation and sin.

Though Jesus was tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15), it is not wise nor beneficial for us to engage in temptation ourselves. As Owen so perfectly states, sin is too closely tied to temptation to be toyed with. It is equally a great danger to be ignorant of temptation, believing that that we are too holy or righteous to stumble. The truth is that, even for the Christian, Satan is able to capitalize on our weaknesses and knows the human race well enough to tap into the darkest parts of our existence.

Paul gives us great hope in this battle:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

- 1 Corinthians 10:13

Temptation is common to mankind, and there are none special to their situation. Sin is a nasty beast, devouring away at every person from birth. This reminds us quickly to remember that we are just as in need of grace as those whom we love to belittle and judge (Jesus had something to say about that).

Thankfully, Paul doesn't leave us there but reminds us of the gospel's power. Whatever it is that you struggle with (and we all have a multitude of somethings), God makes a way of escape. That escape may look different for everyone, but the point is that we as Christians, with new natures, have the unique ability to step away before we are entangled in sin. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and he is constantly at work in our hearts. The gospel liberates us from the shackles of enslavement to self-gratification.

Please, do not isolate yourself from the world. Do not surround yourself with other Christians and "accountability partners" and ignore the Great Commission in the name of piety. We have far too many people who hide from culture and have no real impact for the Kingdom. Simply apply good judgment as a child of God to deal with temptation as seriously as necessary.

Be in the world, not of it.

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While you're at it, go pick up a copy of this book. It will greatly challenge your thoughts on sin and temptation.

Big Book Giveaway (Round 2)

First off, let's announce the winners from Round 1...

• 4-Pack of books ... Martie Mangum!
• The Explicit Gospel ... Jesse Barhart!
• The Hole in Our Holiness ... Aaron Sellars!
• Date Your Wife ... Chris Quinto!
• ESV Student Study Bible ... T.J. Tamer!

*If you entered Round 1 and did not win, simply share the "MORE FREE BOOKS" post on our Facebook or Retweet the new giveaway post to re-enter.

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And now, Round 2.

The Goods

Compliments of Broadman and Holman, we are giving away:

 

Rules of Engagement

Here's how to enter:

• “Like” us on Facebook
• Share the ”MORE FREE BOOKS” post pinned at the top of our Facebook page
• Follow us on Twitter
• Retweet one of our tweets about this giveaway on Twitter
• EXTRA CREDIT: Follow each of our contributors on Twitter

There will be five winners!

• Each study Bible will be given away separately
• Gospel and Embracing Obscurity will be given as a pair
• The Church and Tribal Church will be given as a pair
• Creation Restored and Seven Daily Sins will be given as a pair

May the odds be ever in your favor………

*** Contest ends August 31, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. CST ***

Everyone Proselytizes

While we were in Manhattan, we saw two people proselytizing (proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ) using a megaphone in Union Square and another in the subway. They were both preaching the warnings of sin and the impending judgment. It was disappointing that Christ Himself appeared to be less exalted than the sins of man. At Union Square people were watching, listening, ignoring, but all looked completely uninterested. In the subway, people just walked on by as if it wasn’t happening. This is the typical image people have of evangelism, proselytizing the coming judgment of God on people for their sins and it’s typical because most street preachers focus on this. For most people who don’t believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, this seems ludicrous and most would rather he be silent and simply live out his faith, but I believe the reality is that everyone proselytizes about something, some cause, some event, some show, something.

Amber found this quote from C.S. Lewis that I think outlines perfectly what I’m trying to say:

But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or any thing – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise-lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game-praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least . . .

I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise what ever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.

-C.S. Lewis

I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t proselytize, I think the question is now whether the thing you praise is truly worthy of infinite value? If you’re a Christian, you are proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the ultimate value of your life. Is that reflected in what you praise?

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Cross-posted from Gentrified.

What a Cuban Refugee Taught Me About Christ

Juan Baldor, a Spanish professor at Dallas Baptist University, came to America with his parents and brother at the age of 11. Fidel Castro had risen to power in Cuba not long before, promising freedom from oppression and equality for all. Baldor went with his father to Castro's rallies, he collected Cuban revolutionary cards like American kids collected baseball cards, and his family thanked God that dictatorship in Cuba was gone. It did not take long for the Baldor family to learn that Castro was full of lies and was beginning a regime that would rob his countrymen of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

With a sack full of belongings, a change of clothes, and empty pockets, the Baldor family came to America, just months before the fiasco of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Free to pursue his dreams once again, Baldor's father landed a position mowing highway medians with the City of Dallas and eventually climbed the ladder to head of one of the city departments. It was a modest wage, but for the senior Baldor this rise to leadership represented all of the reasons why his family left everything they owned back in Cuba. The Baldor's were free.

I spent nearly two and a half hours listening to and speaking with Professor Baldor about Cuba, politics, and the true price of freedom. My patriotism was bolstered as I contemplated my own freedoms that I take for granted so effortlessly. More importantly, though, Professor Baldor stirred in my soul a deep appreciation for Jesus.

"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:32).

True Freedom

For all the ways that Christianity is belittled and mocked in our country, we are still free to assemble, to promote, and to believe openly in Christ. We are truly blessed to have such liberty. Make no mistake, even if all of these freedoms were ripped away from America in an instant, we would still have the beautiful, ultimate, eternal privilege of knowing and being known by the Creator of the Universe.

Satan packages sin as freedom, convincing people that there is something to be gained. Much like a lying politician seeking to deceive the masses, we are fed that holy living is bondage. These false freedoms are veiled slavery that robs human beings of the privilege of seeking real truth.

Countries rise and fall, as do their leaders, but our Triune God reigns and rules forever. Life in Christ, this new creation, is the only real hope that we will ever have. Professor Baldor put it this way: "When you lose ambition, something to hope for and work toward, you lose a part of your soul." Our souls are lost without Christ, headed for certain destruction as we trade God's presence for a bite of temptuous fruit. As the Baldor's tasted life when they stepped on American soil, they were experiencing only a shadow of the true freedom that comes from Christ himself. The misery of slavery to sin is much more powerful and poignant than anything Castro, Hitler, Stalin, or any other evil human being can extend.

May we thank God not only for political deliverance, but even more so for the great mercy and grace that he pours out upon his adopted sons and daughters.

I Am Satisfied

Jesus says that being a disciple requires denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him. If this is true, why is it possible to look across the landscape of Evangelicalism in America and see so little self-denial, cross bearing, following of Jesus? Why is prosperity theology so dominant in the American landscape? Why do Christians seem to struggle so intensely with the presence of pain in their lives? Could it be that we have misrepresented Jesus and His gospel? Could it be that we have corrupted the gospel into little more than an obligatory step in the process of judgment removal? In other words, is it a “get out of hell” card, and little more?

Consider the words of Isaiah 26:7-9;

The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. 8 In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

Notice the words of Isaiah. He “longs” for God. His spirit “earnestly seeks” God. He says that God’s “name and remembrance” are the desire of his soul. I think this passage illustrates for us one of the massive missing elements in our understanding and telling of the gospel.

Often we speak of the gospel in terms of release from judgment. “You don’t want to go to hell when you die, do you?” Maybe more popular than that, “Do you know for sure, if you were to die tonight, that you would go to heaven?”. Using these popular forms of gospel telling we communicate an idea that each person has some sort of eternal obligation to “choose Christ” if we want to escape eternal judgment. Once they are convinced, we move from that to instructing the “new believer” in how they should live their life if they are to follow Christ. Behavior modification follows, and is incessant in its advance.

As a result, many make “decisions” for Christ, and then wonder why nothing is different. They wonder where this abundant life is that Jesus so readily promised. What often follows, then, is that they drop out of their faith practice at a horrific rate, and we chalk up their denial of the faith as another example of Satan at work, or maybe even a lack of commitment on their part. Maybe it is those things, or maybe it is something more?

When we consider the words of God in the Old Testament, as we have already seen, and the words of Jesus in the New Testament, we see an entirely different picture. We see a picture of a God who sees humanity mired in the quagmire of death-advancing sin. In spite of our inability to save ourselves, He takes it upon Himself to murder His Son in an effort to flood the world with grace, while remaining just and righteous at the same time. For those who would believe in Him, He promises eternal life, but this eternal life is not just “heaven”. No, it is something much more significant, and much more immediate. He promises that our eternal life, this state of eternal satisfaction with God, begins at the moment we trust in Jesus.

Consider the language that the psalmist uses in Psalm 67 to describe the response of those in distant nations who trust in God for the first time.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Praise! Joy! Singing in exultation! These are the characteristics of the redeemed! This is what seems to be so radically missing in our telling of our faith. God satisfies, and He satisfies completely.

This is why Jesus can call us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. In the church today we often seem to communicate this as if it is some sort of obligatory hardship, when Jesus is saying to us that it is an incredibly uneven trade. We give up ourselves, and we replace us, with Him! Denial of self is not drudgery, it is undeserved privilege! When we understand the depth of the satisfaction of Jesus, it is no big thing to trade in everything else for Him.

This is why the prosperity gospel is so appealing. We all deeply want to be satisfied, and the prosperity gospel affirms that. It believes that man should be completely satisfied, but it wrongly assumes that this satisfaction comes from more stuff, and not the Savior. As such, this false gospel must be condemned as the idol worship it is.

This is why faithful, authentic followers of Jesus can walk through excruciating pain, and yet still trust in God. Our satisfaction is not bound up in the momentary circumstances. We are satisfied with Jesus, and He is enough. This is why Job could say, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”

C.S. Lewis rightly identified the sad condition of the human heart when he said;

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

When the woman at the well came to Jesus, she was looking for a bit of water. Jesus, however, graced her with something far superior. He promised her living water which would never run dry. This was not just some allegorical term for life that would not end. This was a clear picture of the deeply soul satisfying life with Jesus. Everything else will fall short and lead one to emptiness, sadness and humanistic self-advancement. It will not satisfy. Jesus, on the other hand, satisfies, satisfies completely and alone satisfies.

So, do not settle for anything but Him. Ask yourself, like Isaiah, if you long for the presence of God? As you walk through struggle, run to Jesus. When you long for more than you have, find satisfaction in Jesus. When it seems like things do not happen as they should, trust in Jesus. Nothing else matters and nothing else provides, like Jesus.

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Cross-posted from Micah's personal blog.

Big Book Giveaway (Round 1)

  Often times, new websites have a hard time getting off the ground. Admittedly, we have been overwhelmed by the support Project TGM is already receiving... but that won't stop us from shameless promotion by giving away freebies!

The Goods

Compliments of Crossway Books, we are giving away:

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*** Contest ends August 19, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. CST ***

Be Fruitful and Multiply Disciples

Historically, movements have stopped because they were primarily leader-led information dumps. Information isn’t a bad thing, but information-driven movements are limited in influence. Why should we create disciple multiplying movements? How can we create them? It’s What We Were Made For In the garden of Eden, we see that image bearers of God we were made to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:22, 26-28). By issuing his first “great commission,” God did not merely intend for us to have more people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Rather, he wanted his beautiful image to fill the entire earth through the multiplication of his image bearers. But through Adam, we sinned and were separated from God.

In the attempt to author our own story, we sought center stage–pushing God’s goals for us aside. We sought to multiply our image for the sake of our own fame rather than God’s fame.

When someone repents and turns to God, it is our responsibility to show them their new mission by pointing back to the garden. We must show how their mission is all about multiplying for the sake of God’s glory not multiplying a life that is all about them and their legacy.

Most small groups in churches believe their goal is to get to know each other or form a close bond. If this is the goal, multiplication will never be desired. Drawing close to one another is not the goal of missional community, but making disciples who make disciples is (being fruitful and multiplying images of Jesus). Drawing close to one another happens because Jesus has given us the same Father, and we are a part of the same family. So, forming a close bond is a bi-product rather than the goal of living together on mission as family.

This Must be on Our Lips If our goal is to make disciples who make disciples (to be fruitful and multiply), then this must be on our lips constantly. I tell those who aren’t even followers of Jesus yet, that we desire to see communities like ours across the world doing the same thing. So, when they join our community as a follower of Jesus, they’ve already been discipled to know that we desire multiplication.

But it doesn’t stop there. We continue to talk about it as a group and continue to seek to hear from the Spirit on his timing and his power to send us out. The best way I can describe this is by relating it to your child. Do you desire to see your child stay in your house until they die? Or do you desire to see them leave the house and have a family of their own? Do you then wait until they are 18 and spring this on them and then kick them out? Or, do you continue talking to them about it, train them and seek for them to be ready when the day comes to leave your house and go and be fruitful and multiply with their new family? This is the same thing we need to be doing with our church families. We need to seek to see them grow in maturity and grow in the gospel so that they too can lead a family of missionary servants to live out the effects of the gospel with those around them.

People often ask me how I make it easy for our groups to multiply. I say the same thing every time: You must regularly talk about multiplication and train the next group for its certainty. It must always be on your lips and prayers, and always on your people’s lips and prayers. If it’s not, then it will be very difficult when it happens–like kicking out your unsuspecting child and telling them it’s healthy.

Transforming and Transferable You will do well by building the foundation of multiplication. You will also do well by regularly talking about it and listening to the Spirit in the process. But what happens if you have no leaders to lead the multiplication? This is where many groups and movements fail. The reason is that people in the group look at the leader and think, “There’s no way I can do what he’s doing. This takes too much time and too much theological knowledge.” Not only that, but you’ve merely spoken about multiplication without transforming people’s hearts to seek it out.

Merely talking about making disciples is sometimes fun and it’s a great theological exercise for the mind. But mere talk and theologizing rarely inspire people to make disciples.

If you desire to see others gripped to make disciples, you must not only penetrate their intellect. You must also aim at their hearts. If you merely aim at their heads with theological reasons why it’s good to make disciples, people will always come up with reasons why they are not convinced of its realities.

I think of Jonathan Edwards when he spoke of God’s holiness and grace and compared it to honey.[1]

In this way, he says, there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person’s being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.

So, we must, as leaders, show others what it means to make disciples. When a follower of Jesus sees new disciples being made, and they are a part of it, their heart will rejoice. And like honey on the lips, they will desire more honey instead of merely talking about honey. Jesus did the same with the blind man in John 9. He healed him, so that the blind man would taste and see that the Lord was good. Then he supported that heart-transforming act, to theologically tackle the implications of who Jesus was afterward in John 9:35-41. Notice the way the blind man desired others to taste and see that the Lord Jesus was good–because his heart was transformed.

Not only do we seek to transform, but we must also make sure what we do is transferable. I have many things I can share from experience that I believe are transferable for my people, but you must ask yourself these types of questions:

• Do I need a theological degree to lead the community like I do? Remember, not all people like to read and study as much as many of us pastors do. If we want to create a movement of disciple-making, then we have to move away from leading from a position of “trained” men, into leading like “untrained” men. (By the way, I’ve never been to seminary, nor am I paid by the church.)

• Do I need to be paid by the church to have the time to do what I do? See above.

• What resources are available to give future leaders so that they don’t feel like they have to think of new topics to discuss and study in their Missional Community? I do not do any book studies in the Bible that cause me to do an immeasurable amount of study and reading on my own. If I do, then people will see the group as one that can only be led by someone with my capacity. Instead, I use easily transferable studies (e.g., check out  www.bild.org)

• How can I model all of this, so that I am going to be able to transfer leadership, instead of being the functional savior for our groups? Make sure you lead as you want others to lead. Don’t do studies that can only be led by a seminarian. Don’t do so many activities that can only be done by those with a job inside the church. Remember, as you lead, you are discipling those in your group on what it looks like to lead a group of disciple-makers. You can’t say one thing and model another. They’ll see right through that.

Because I have worked hard to hear the Spirit’s leading in this, 80% of those that are a part of the Missional Communities in my expression within Soma Communities desire to lead MCs at some point. When I baptized a new disciple, he first desired to lead a group of disciple-makers. He saw this as the only option for someone who was a follower of Jesus and, that it wasn’t anything special. In spite of being a new disciple, he didn’t see this as some “high calling” only for a few.

Since we want to lay the foundation of multiplication, we regularly talk about making disciples who make disciples. We seek to do this by modeling it for them in ways easily transferable. New disciples often can’t wait to lead others in the making of disciples who multiply to make more disciples.

So, go! Be fruitful disciples of Jesus by multiplying his beautiful image everywhere.

¹ http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/edwards_light.html

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Cross-posted from Gospel-Centered Discipleship.