Monthly Archives: February 2010

Success

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Which one of these arrows defines success?

arrowdown 300x179 Successarrowup 300x179 Success

I had the opportunity to hear from Dave Gibbons early this week at the churchplanters.com Conference. He made a very simple statement that churches all too often define success as:

Up and to the right

However, biblically success is defined:

Down and to the left

Then Dave made this statement which has been rattling around in my brain ever since:

You can impress people from afar, but you can only impact them from up close.

That’s incarnation.

So how do you define success? Up and to the right? What you do.

Or do you define success down and to the left? What Jesus did.

If you are coming to this table

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If you are coming to this table to receive the grace and mercy of Jesus, you are welcome.

29174074 95e1aff438 If you are coming to this table

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at Matthew’s table, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples (Matthew 9:9-10, ESV).

Haiti Update from the Baptist Global Response

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give button Haiti Update from the Baptist Global ResponseThe Baptist Global response has sent 77 volunteers to Haiti including six medical teams. Volunteers have distributed 20 tons of rice, given medical treatment to 6,482 patients, assisted 100 pastors, made 2,475 ministry contacts and have seen 98 professions of faith.

Your donation is still needed. For this will be a very long-term effort.

Sunday Reflections

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Some highlights from yesterday’s teaching on Luke 6:17-49.

A. CONTEXT: How does this text read us and our world?

Consider the questions Jesus is asking of his hearers:

  • If you love people who love you, what benefit is it to you?

  • And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?

  • And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

  • Can a blind man lead a blind man?

  • Why do you see the speck that is in your brothers eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

  • Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?

B. GOSPEL: How does this text evangelize us with good news?

The blessings and woes reflect fundamental ethical values of God and his grace towards those who align themselves with him and the great cost of following Jesus. God knows those who are his and Jesus offers blessings, but what about his judgment?

The four woes match and contrast the four blessings. The gospel is only half a gospel if it does not include judgment.

C. CHANGE: How does this text convert us in personal and corporate life?

Jesus expects action, not just a private expression to God. Lest there be any doubt that Jesus calls his church to active, visible, love for their enemies, four illustrations drive his point home.

  • Turning the other cheek rather than striking back

  • Vulnerability rather than selfishness

  • Compassion and generosity rather than turning a blind eye to need

  • Restraint rather than revenge

Picture1 300x217 Sunday ReflectionsThe change the Gospel brings is not turning over a new leaf, but rather living a new life. The Gospel is not “do” but “did.” We love our enemies, do good, lend while not expecting nothing back because of what Jesus did not because of a religious system or moralism. Disciples of Jesus love with an exceptional love because He first loved us.

This way of life is so different the world can see it because it reflects the character of God. To be a child of God is to reflect the character of God.

If there is to be accountability it must start with ourselves. We are often aware of little faults in others, while ignoring our own. Jesus calls such priorities hypocrisy. This means we need to receive correction and to go honestly before God so that the beam in our eye can be removed.

Then we will bear fruit. The first evidence of good fruit is a person’s speech – for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

In the end, the issue comes down to this – Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? If fact, nothing is completely understood until it is applied. The one who learns to be like the teacher will be able to face the disappointments and injuries that life often brings. In contrast to ignore Jesus’ teachings is to be set up to suffer tragically because they have ignored the call of God.

D. MISSION: How does this text send us and equip our witness?

Love, doing good, blessing, praying for those who are our enemies assumes the reality that we are in relational contact with our enemies, our haters, our cursers, our abusers, and those who would seek to harm us.

To be struck on the cheek means that we are in striking distance.

To give to those who beg assumes that we know where beggars can be found.

To love as we wish to be loved means acknowledging the dignity of other people as made in the image of God.

Because God gave, we can give.

Mercy, love, and grace should dominate our character, even if it requires great risk. These cost Jesus his life.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (6:40).

E. FUTURE: How does this text orient us to the coming reign of God?

The great reformer Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first is religion/spirituality and the second is the gospel. The two are antithetical in every way.

Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do.

When people look into the church (not the building, but the relationships and community) and they see disciples who are vulnerable, compassionate, generous without expecting anything in return; disciples who show restraint, who do not judge, who do not condemn, who forgive; disciples who speak out of the abundance of their hearts and are able to withstand the storms of life because their lives have been built on a firm foundation, they should say, “Oh, that’s what the Kingdom of God looks like.”

Missional Rhythms – Sending

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This is the final post in the Missional Rhythms series. You can read the others here: Eating , Learning, Listening.

To live as the sent people of God, we must first realize that God has been unfolding His Story since before time began. We are participants in that Story. Our redemption and restoration from our fear and prideful rebellion comes from when, by faith, we submit our lives to the Story of God. Therefore, as a sent story-formed community, we should look to tell that story often.

Every person on the planet is living their life inside of and in light of a larger story shaped by the country they live in, the cultures surrounding them, the family they were raised in, the worldview they believe in. Until they understand all of this in light of the Redemptive Story of God, they will give themselves over to lesser stories and we have been sent to tell. . .

. . . the Story

We are a story-formed people who are living our lives based upon and within a story. All of our beliefs, identity and actions are all connected this story. This is why we need to know the Redemptive Story of God and talk about it when we sit, stand, walk along the way, lie down, etc.

. . . my Story

We all need to continually grow in the Gospel of grace and truth. We need to be self-aware and let the Holy Spirit through Scripture show us where our lives past and present are not in line with the Gospel.

. . . our Stories

We need to know each other’s stories. As we hear each other’s stories we should ask: Where in your story are struggling to believe the Gospel? What about your identity in Christ are struggling to believe, and how does the Gospel answer your need?

. . . the culture’s Stories

In order to be an effective missionary, we need to know the story of our culture – what has shaped it, what is the dominant story line, what are the idols, where are the open doors for the gospel. By both demonstration and proclamation we should always be prepared to show how the Gospel Story fills the gaps, corrects the lies, and successfully completes the culture’s story.

What are your thoughts?
How do you live SENT?

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Missional Rhythms – Listen

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This continues a series of post developing some rhythms for our church community so that we can live out the mission of God in the everyday “stuff” of life – our eating, drinking, sleeping, going to work life. These rhythms flow out of the simple liturgy we follow each week in our Sunday gatherings.

First we eat with those who are not in our immediate family or circle of close friends, discipling them toward of life if dependence on God. Next we learn. Learning is more than the memorization of Scripture. In the hectic pace of most of our lives, we simply need to learn to rest, play, create, and restore beauty in ways that reflect God and the work of the Gospel to others.

Today we come to listening

Listen

Jesus listened to God in prayer to know his Father’s will. We listen to God because through the Gospel we are now aware of our ongoing need for Him. To listen we need to be regularly interacting with God’s word in order to hear what God is saying to us today.

Furthermore, everyone is listening to someone or something as the primary voice or voices that they submit their lives to. But to make listening to what the Spirit is saying to us and make listening a part of our everyday rhythm we must listen . . .

. . . to God

The Gospel reminds us that we are fully dependent upon God’s Spirit to teach us the truth, convict of sin, and show us the way to go by empowering us to be and do everything God desires of us. So we must listen to the Spirit if we are going to live lives as God intends.

. . . to myself

Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. CJ Mahaney states in his book, Living the Cross Centered Life, that when listening to ourselves, we should speak the Gospel to ourselves. In order to regularly realign ourselves to the truth of the Gospel, we need to listen closely to what we say to ourselves. And where what we are hearing does not match up, we should preach the Gospel to ourselves.

. . . to each other

We need to listen to each other carefully to discern where we, as a church community, have not been gripped by the Gospel by paying careful attention to whether our story is becoming about being dependent on something other than God.

. . . to our culture

The people in our community are telling us what they believe and why through their words and actions. We need to ask questions and listen. If we are prepared to give an answer for the hope we have, we should spend less time prepping our answers and more time listening for the questions. Listening to others is prerequisite for Gospel engagement. We should be listening constantly in order to find bridges to the Gospel.

So how do you listen in the rhythms of your life?

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Missional Rhythms – Learn

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Learning is more than the memorization of Scripture. In the hectic pace of most of our lives, we simply need to learn to rest, play, create, and restore beauty in ways that reflect God and the work of the Gospel to others. Apart from the Gospel, we will remain restless because we will subconsciously worry that our worlds will stop spinning.

So, in the rhythms of life we need to learn to . . .
. . . to rest in God’s work

After creating the entire universe, God rested. We are created in his image, therefore, we need to take time to rest as well. The Gospel allows us to truly rest and learn from God because he has accomplished everything necessary for our justification. Furthermore, He is the one who will finish the work he started in us. So we can rest in His work and His abilities and His power. Our rest then is not only a result of the Gospel, but a demonstration to the world not at rest in the Gospel.

. . . to create and play

We can also learn to create freely, not dependent on the quality of the creation or the validation of others to say it is good, but rather because we are already called good in Jesus Christ. So, we are free to play because our Father is in charge and gives us all we need.

. . . to celebrate with others

God has called is people to regularly celebrate his goodness and grace with one another. We gather weekly in our missional church community, to share stories and celebrate all that God is doing in and amongst us. But we should also learn to celebrate our new life in Jesus with those who are not part of the family of God. In this way, we display and demonstrate God’s glory and encourage each other on in mission.

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Missional Rhythms – Eating

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I’ve been working on developing some rhythms for our church community so that we can live out the mission of God in the everyday “stuff” of life – our eating, drinking, sleeping, going to work life. These rhythms flow out of the simple liturgy we follow each week in our Sunday gatherings.

If we believe that this is God’s world, and God is at work in it, and if we accept the most obvious outcomes of this belief, then we realize that God can be found in the midst in so-called “everyday” life. Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing Peter, sums this sort of posture up well.

Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (MSG)

Simply stated, we, as the church, are to be a display people in the everyday stuff of life so that all may see and experience the glory of God and be drawn to him. This attraction to God was never meant to be an event – the church’s Sunday gathering – but the Kingdom of God being displayed in the everyday life of God’s people.

Theologian Tim Chester states that:

Church is not an event. It is a community.
Mission is not an event. It is a lifestyle.
We are called to live ordinary life with Gospel intentionality.

In other words, the forms and activities of that the church equips for and leads her people into must be the stuff of everyday life or the church just becomes another “thing” we attend as we struggle to fit it in and around the rest of our life. If we keep this sort of posture we will be robbed of living the Gospel out in the everyday or will find ourselves living a life packed with church programs which only serve to pull us out of our missionary context.

But we have been called and sent to be the church on mission for God’s glory all the time whenever we gather, wherever we go, and in whatever we do. So in order to see all of life as mission we must find and practice some everyday rhythms. First up is eating together.

Eat

Meals are a daily reminder of our common need for God and his faithful provision. The command Jesus gives in regards to worship is to remember him and his sacrifice for us through a meal. When we eat together, we commune around this truth.

. . . unto God

Whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we do unto God. Every meal we eat really is a demonstration of the Gospel. We become hungry – a real need. Our need is graciously met by God since whatever we have is from God.

. . . with each other

When we eat together we commune over our common need for God and God’s provision. In doing this, we demonstrate the Gospel to each other week after week. In some ways, we preach the Gospel to each other because every time we gather together as a church community we eat and drink in remembrance of Christ – looking back to the cross and forward to his return.

. . . with unbelievers

A shared meal is very symbolic and communicative. Who we eat with demonstrates who we care for. This is why Jesus regularly shared his meals with those who were considered dirty, unreligious, and visibly or socially unacceptable. The table is one of the most powerful display of God’s love and acceptance of sinners.

Therefore, let us, weekly, eat a meal with those who are not in our immediate family or circle of close friends, discipling them toward of life if dependence on God.

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So what are your thoughts?
What are some of the rhythms of your life? Your church’s life