Another Sermon

Please take a moment and listen to a recent message I did on "servant evangelism" and the obstacles to why many people don't share their faith. One of those obstacles which took up most of the sermon was on the reality of Hell.

Click the link

http://www.infinitylaurel.com/Default.aspx?tabid=130

Then click on the "audo sermons" box and find my pic with the title "servant evangelism"

love to hear your thoughts

God hates visionary dreaming

Provocative title huh?

They are actually the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a small book he wrote called "Life Together." His words are challenging to us who follow Christ and are a part of His community called the Church. Read them carefully...

"Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this," (p. 6-7). We come into this community through Jesus. We exisit in community with Jesus. And our community is not centrally anything more or less than this!

This is significant to me because I often hear zealous Christians within the church and non-Christians outside of the church making comments on what the church should be. However, Bonhoeffer challenges us with our ideals about church.

"Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and try to realize it," (p.14).

Wow! We cannont come to the church with some lofty ideal of what the church should be. This would include visions of perfect brotherhood, no division, no sin, a perfect racial diversity (for those of you who think every church should be equally balanced culturally), a "cool" church that "really" reaches the unchurched, etc. A warning to us is to examine our hearts and minds. Do we have a specific ideal of what "church" should be? Or do we come with a simplicity that realizes our fellowship with each other is in Jesus and then seek to work that out?

A warning to Church Planters...

"Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to sruvive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the later, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial," (p.15).

Often times those of you who may be church planters or thinking about planting a church are encouraged to "dream big" for your church plant by various church plant networks and denominations who may be involved in your plant. This is dangerous. It encourages you to falsely come up with some dream of what you want your church to look like and usually with younger planters like myself we have a specific type of person we see in our church and we see a specific type of culture represented there (usually young, cool, hip, etc.). Planters are often asked, "What is your target group?" This allows us to play into ourselves and our preferences too much and we can easily make our "target group" people like us and people who we feel most comfortable with. But may I suggest that Christian community ceases whenever we get to pick all of those with whom we are in community with. Jesus picked the 12 disciples from varying back grounds. They didn't all know each other naturally and didn't all grow up in the same neighborhood. James warns us in Chapter two to "show no partiality" and I am afraid that much of this does exactly that.

Shaun Garman, pastor of Red Sea Church in Portland, Or taught me this principle well. We don't get to choose who comes to our churches and who doesn't. Our job is to throw the gospel seeds everywhere we can and watch to see where they grow. Then we need to effectively tend those "shoots" by discipling those who respond to the gospel.

If we don't heed this warning this is where it takes us...

"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visonary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of the brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself," (p.15).

While I have been addressing church planters this warning goes for all of us in the church who at times become dissatisfied with the church and perhaps cling to an ideal. Read these last words by Bonhoeffer to get a biblical picture of Christian Community.

"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders [ie. demanding a certan ideal of Christian Community exist] but as thankful recipients. We thank God for what He has done for us. We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness and HIs promise," (p.16).

"Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize: it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it," (p.l9).

The benefit of preaching

Recently I read a blog that I really enjoyed. (so yes I am blogging about a blog). When you get a minute check out the link, his thoughts are better than mine.
http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/critics-of-the.php

Read this quote from Marsden's biography on the life of Jonathan Edwards...

“Critics of the awakenings alleged that when people heard many sermons in one week they would not be able to remember much of what they had heard. Edwards countered, ‘The main benefit that is obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind in the time of it, and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.’” Marsden concludes, “Preaching, in other words, must first of all touch the affections” (Page 282).

Read Edwards quote again... ‘The main benefit that is obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind in the time of it, and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.’”

As a preacher, this really rings true to my heart. It seems like the spirit of most preaching today is geared exclusively toward application. What I mean is that the value of hearing a sermon isn't in the hearing of it and in the experience of meeting with God through the preached word but rather on how it will be applied. We will often hear something like, "what you are hearing on Sunday only counts if you apply it in 'the real world' Monday - Saturday." Often this diminishes preaching itself as something that is necessary (though that is now debated) but something we need to "get through" so we can get to the "real work" of applying this in our lives.

The scariest piece of this in my opinion is that preachers in preparing a message neglect good exegesis and the actual preaching of the word and instead preach their outline, their points, or the "application" they pulled from the text. Where this leads us to is moralistic or "good Christian" preaching where the saints/sinners are just encouraged each week to try harder at following Jesus. People always leave with something to do rather than being more impressed with God and more in love with Jesus having just spent time with him.

I am still thinking this through but I think Edwards has it right.

Message on Unity and Maturity

Hey fam...

Here is a link to a recent sermon I preached. Check it out and give me your thoughts.

http://www.celebrategospel.com/viewMusic.php?fileID=26

I Killed Jesus

I remember when I was in High School. I had just become a Christian and was at a Bible Study for students at a girl's house who went to my school. Her father was leading us in a study and he asked the question, "What would you have done if you were present at the crucifixion of Jesus?" Now, I was a new believer and particularly zealous and passionate for Christ at this time. As several students gave their answers I shared mine. I said something like, "I would have fought to get him down off the cross, even if they killed me." Our patient leader listened to everyone share and then gave his answer. What he said floored me.

"If I was there, I would have joined in with the guards and helped crucify Jesus myself."

I couldn't believe he said that. But after listening to his reason I understood. He told us that without the death of Jesus on the cross he, along with us, would have no hope. If Jesus did not pay our sin debt on the cross thereby satisfying the wrath of God we would have to pay it and of course as sinners we cannot and so our sin would condemn us to hell.

Recently I heard a quote from C.J. Mahaney on the cross. (I highly encourage you to listen to any messages of his you can find online, just do a google search and you will see several). I heard this in a song "were you there" by Shai Linne, listen to it on his myspace page (www.myspace.com/shailinne). Shail is a hip hop artist from Philly and uses the quote in the end of the song.

Before we can see the cross as something done for us leading us to faith and worship. We have to see it has something done by us leading us to repentance. Only the man or woman who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross may share his share in it's grace.

Whoa... read that again. While it is so painful to understand that I share in the guilt of the cross... it is also makes the cross that much sweeter. We must not simply tell people that God loves them through what Jesus did but we must also help people to see their role in his death. Namely the sin that they (we) have committed which separates them from God, condemns them to hell, and that which Christ paid for on behalf of his elect/those who would believe in His name!

My Bible study leaders response shocked me. However, as I have thought about this even more I realize that we really did kill Jesus. My sin killed the Son of God. When Jesus was on the cross some part of the suffering he went through was actually caused by me. A piece of the wrath of God that Jesus experienced was meant for me due to my sin.

So yes... I helped kill Jesus.

Where is God in your life?

I was driving in my car the other day thinking about what God was calling me too and wondering how I was going to accomplish it when the Holy Spirit dropped these words into my heart.

Don't set up your life in such a way so that you don't need God to work.

You see, as I was making my plans and figuring out what I was going to do with my life I got discouarged (notice the over use of personal pronouns... big mistake). It was a slap to the face. God was saying, "Where am I in your plans?" "Do you even need me to work?" Isn't it amazing how so subtly we can find ourselves in a place where we don't really need God. We have our jobs, our ministries, our plans, and all these things we can pretty much take care of. There are no question marks. There are no, "God if you don't do __________, this will fail."

This is scary though isn't it?

This is the place of faith. If you are a leader of a church, ministry, home, etc. this is even more frightening because your decisions don't just affect you but others. For example, if God is calling you to move to a new area but you don't know how God will provide the housing you need... it requires faith to declare it. Why? Because once you make it known you are committed and you must move forward depending on God alone and others are watching. I remember when my wife and I knew that we were called to move from Chicago to Baltimore in 02'. We were expecting our second child a month before our move. We didn't renew our lease, I didn't have a job lined up, and we didn't have a place to live but we knew we were called. God provided all of that and more in an incredible way. What is God calling you to literally trust him with? What is it that you will believe him for that only He can do? God honors faith in Him!

Wow... my heart gets stirred even as I write this with incredible hope because when I think of operating in this way not only does peace come because I can trust God, not only does hope come because I know he will do more than I imagined, but even more incredible glory will be given to Jesus alone as he accomplishes His will in a way that only He can and I stand in amazement!

Check this dope verse...

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" Ephesians 3.20-21

Applying scripture?

I have recently been working through a discipleship course with my church family. It is a series of books that go through the basic doctrines of Christianity. These are great for new believers and people who perhaps have been in church for awhile but have never connected the "theological dots" of scripture. In one of the books the authors teach their readers how to do a personal Bible study. As a part of this experience the students are to write down their thoughts and specifically one "application" from the text they read that they can apply to their lives.

As I was attempting to follow this format in my own study it got me thinking about the emphasis many make on "applying scripture." I think at some point in the 80's many church leaders realized that there were too many "smart Christians" in the church and not many "active Christians." The smart Christians were the people who knew the Bible but did not apply it to their lives and therefore exprience life change. Application of scripture is an important part of discipleship (2 Timothy 3.16-17). So there was a renewed emphasis on applying scripture. And many "new believer" discipleship materials now emphasize that each time the text is read the believer should come up with or discover something they should do with this new knowledge or else they risk becoming another "smart Christian."

My struggle is that if the application of scripture becomes the primary goal of Bible study then the Bible becomes a manual for life book rather than a book about God. I heard Tim Keller (http://www.redeemer.com/) say something like this at a Resurgence (http://www.theresurgence.com/) conference in Seattle, "When you read the Bible, do you read it as a book that is primarily about you or primarily about Jesus?" It is a dangerous thing to read the Bible as a book that is primarily about me asking, what should I do next, how God will help me, what God is trying to tell me, etc. Because the Bible is not about you or I rather it is about Jesus.

My fear is that the over emphasis on application leads a new believer into reading the Bible as though it were a book about them because the main question they are asking in their head as they read is, "How does this apply to me?" rather than "Where is Jesus in this text?" Ultimately, this will lead to frustration because the Bible is not written at all like a self help manual or a manual for life. Rather it is written as the narrative of God redeeming humanity through his son and in that story we can all see our place. Not as the main subject (Jesus) but as the object of God's work in Christ.

The denial of death

I've always thought it was interesting how people often deny the reality of death. What I mean is it seems like one of the most certain things that will happen to all of us is the least discussed or even acknowleged as a coming reality. How often do people talk about death? What happens when we die? Even on a surface level not too many people seem to be imagining or talking about what they think will happen when they die. This is seen in the general reaction to death as well.When people die we feel like it shouldn't have happened. Funerals feel awkward and we can't wait to be done with them so we can return back to "normal" life. We feel cheated and robbed as if we weren't expecting those we loved to die. There is an almost default imortality assumed.

For a long time I just assumed people denied death because they were afraid of the unknown. But there is a theological reason why this seems to be the natural response. Think about this! When God created man and woman he didn't create us to die. From Genesis to Revelation death is "not a natural but a penal event," (The Cross of Christ, John Stott pg.65). It was penal meaning it is a penalty or punishment for sin. Death came after Adam sinned. Everything about mankind God created and built into us except for death (and the resulting bondage to sin we all experience). Therefore dying is not natural!

Every human being is made in the image of God. Even though there is sin and separation from God every human still has the image of God imprinted upon them however marred, clouded, or faded that image may be. Because of this, death does not feel natural to us because it was never naturally built into us when God first made man. God made man naturally to never die. This is why the reality of death is often denied.