Why We Talk About Sin 5

Because sin is a communal thing. Now by that I don't mean that we swap spouses at NC, nor that we have a supply closet full of scarlet letters to pass out.

What I mean is that we were never meant to deal with our sin alone. First, we have God. God's desire is not that we run away from Him after we sin, but that we run towards Him, or more specifically, that we run towards the Cross. But we also have other people.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy...He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone."

As I wrote yesterday, we are not meant live our lives with a mask on, pretending to have our acts together. This is true both with God and with others. I am very thankful to have a hand full of people in my life who are ok with the real me. They are a safe place for me to share not only the good but also the bad and the ugly. I hope that we all find this kind of community.

Rather than write anymore on this, I'd like to direct your attention here, to one of my posts on Tim Chester's book, You Can Change. He says it all so well.

From Community Groups to Missional Communities

Phase 3 of Community Groups at Neighborhood Church gets underway tonight. We began our first community group 14 months ago. It was a large one. Last fall we then went to two groups. We set before each group five values: Sharing life, sharing stories, sharing Scripture, sharing prayer, and sharing mission. Most weeks these groups discussed the previous Sunday's message, but we also wanted to begin developing true community. I believe that we were very successful in reaching that goal. One of the things I was most excited about was the way the kids were loved on and cared for by everyone in the group. I think we got a real taste of what community can be.

So that brings us to today. As much as I loved our community groups, I felt that they were too large. They left me wanting more, especially when it comes to the three journeys (upward, inward and outward). Many nights, just as we were beginning to go deep as a community, 7:30 would roll around and one of the kids would automatically go into meltdown mode. (In case you don't have children, that means the show is over and it's time to go home). Much of this was due to having so many in one group. The other issue centered around mission. It's great that almost everyone at NC is involved in a mission of some sort. Those folks are of course passionate about their missions, but this meant that it was often difficult to decide on a common mission.

Over the summer I've had conversations with several friends about where we're heading. One of the more helpful conversations was with Michael Stewart. He said that at Austin Stone they've helped their folks come to understand the difference between a team of missionaries and a missionary team. A team of missionaries is a group of people who all have a different mission but who come together for encouragement and prayer. On the other hand, a missionary team is a group of people who have a shared, or common, mission. That I believe has been the missing piece for me.

So in phase 3 we are centering around mission, believing that the best community we can have will be discovered through the context of mission. If you ask a person about their best experience of community, chances are that you'll hear a story about a mission trip. In order to do this we're having groups of 6-8 people.

Three couples from NC, including Mandy and I, have kindergarteners at Peabody Elementary School this year. For the next nine months we are all going to be investing a lot of hours into Peabody. This is our common mission, which makes us a missional community. And this is where I first starting putting this together. In February we had several families over who at the time were considering sending their kids to Peabody. As we were sitting around talking about our hopes and dreams, it all of a sudden hit me that this was my missional community. It didn't matter that only three of us were a part of NC. We had a common mission (public education through our neighborhood school), and the common mission was drawing us together like nothing else could.

I am very excited by what I see God doing in the lives of NC'ers. I think we're on the verge of seeing God do what only God can do, and I'm so glad that I'm on board for the ride!

You Can Change 16

This is my last post on Tim Chester's wonderful book You Can Change. At this point in my life it is definitely a Top-1o book, one that has both encouraged me and challenged me a great deal. I feel like I need to read it again soon, as I so want these truths to be internalized in my heart. I want to end this series with four summary statements that Chester gives:

1. Keep returning to the cross to see your sin cancelled and to draw near to God in full assurance of welcome.
2. Keep looking to God instead of to sin for satisfaction, focusing on the four liberating truths of God's greatness, glory, goodness and grace.
3. Cut off, throw off, put off, kill off everything that might strengthen or provoke sinful desires.
4. Bring sin into the light through regular accountability to another Christian.

You Can Change 14

In about six weeks I'm going to begin teaching through Ephesians, so I was excited to see that this next chapter, which focuses on the role of community in change, follows much of the themes in Ephesians. One of which is this: not only is maturity possible through Christ, it's commanded. Chester says that just as sin is a community matter, so too is change.

Sometimes I'm able to remind myself that the sin in my life is rooted in lies. At that moment I can come back to the truth of the gospel and can overcome that sin. However, at other times I need someone else to say these things to me. That's the role of community. Unfortunately, this kind of community is often hard to find. One of the reasons for this is that community is messy. Though we may not want to be pretenders, it is much easier. After all, what will people think if they know the "real" me? So when we are held captive by some kind of sin, we either withdraw from community or begin to wear a mask. Chester says,

I need people who regularly ask me about my walk with God, readily challenge my behavior, and know about my temptations. I need my friend Samuel, who often asks, "What's the question you don't want me to ask you?"

The other reason this kind of community is so rarely found is that we don't want to speak truth to people. I have to say that this is one of the biggest things that God has been challenging me with these days. I don't like saying harsh things to my friends, even when I know that what they are doing is destructive. However, Paul says that one of the ways we grow towards maturity is by speaking the truth in love and having the truth spoken to us in love (Eph. 3:15).

I must admit that many of us don't know how to do this. I know that I struggle with it. How do we respond when someone confesses sin? How do we challenge them to seek God for true change? How do we help them to know the love and comfort of God? We need to come back to the gospel. We need to be able to say to one another, "Yes, this is sin. Yes you are guilty. But Christ has taken on that guilt. He has faced the judgment of God not because of sin that he committed but because of our sin."

I so desperately want to be a part of this kind of community. Not one where, as Bonhoeffer said, "Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is discovered among the righteous", but one whose identity is shaped by brokenness, grace, and hope.

Happy Birthday Mandy!

I suppose this post should have been written yesterday, since that was technically Mandy's birthday (not sure why I just used the word "technically"). But better late than never, right? Actually, I'm glad I waited, because something hit me last night that I'm truly thankful for. Last night three of Mandy's closest friends took her out to eat. She returned home almost three hours later. Now, for me, three hours at a restaurant is not a good night. But for Mandy, it's great.

I've discovered over the last year or so that my wife is a very relational person. I'm not sure why that fact has eluded me over almost 11 years of marriage. I think it's because she hasn't always had this deep a level of community. So I'm thankful that my wife knows how to fill herself up, but I'm even more thankful for the fact that she's in a place to do it!

One more thing I've discovered over the last year or so: my wife is pretty popular. I'm happy about that. She's an awesome lady. But I told her yesterday over lunch that I felt honored that she chose to spend her lunch with me. And I truly was. Happy birthday Mandy!

A Community is Forming

Last night we had several families over for pizza and discussion. The topic of discussion: Peabody Elementary School. Three years ago my desire was to one day send my children to our neighborhood public school. At the time I hoped that one or two others would decide to join us. Last night I realized that my dreams have been two small. There are currently 10 families leaning towards sending their children to Peabody next fall. We have known a few of these families for awhile, but some are new friends. But the cool thing is that with all, the hopes and dreams are the same. It's definitely an exciting time!

Mandy has done an excellent job leading and facilitating these discussions. Check out her blog, as I'm sure she'll be writing about this.

The Passover & Community

I've read Exodus 12 many times before, but something struck me as I read it this morning. This is the story of the final plague on Egypt, where God kills the firstborn in every Egyptian family. God has multiple bottom lines with his plans. His main purpose with this plan is obviously to redeem his people, but if you've read much of Scripture, you also know that God is giving them a symbolic picture of the ultimate redemption that will take place through Christ's sacrifice.

God wants his people here to create a tradition in which they will always remember what happened on that night. But here's what struck me this morning. He includes everyone in the community. Everyone is responsible for doing their part. This isn't just a task for the leaders. Each household is to sacrifice a lamb. They are to prepare that lamb in a certain fashion, and then they are to enjoy eating it. God gives special conditions that if a household is small and doesn't need a whole lamb, then they can go in with another small household and share a lamb. But everyone takes part. Every member of the community plays a role in God's plan.

Sometimes the details in the Old Testament can bog us down, but I think there's real purpose in them, and in a passage like this one, it's clear to me that God is giving us a picture of community. And I think it's a brilliant picture!

Koinonia - A Deeper Meaning

Last night we finished up our vision series for Neighborhood Church. Throughout this series we've been calling people to move from participation to partnership, and last night I opened the message with a passage that includes this word "partnership." It's Philippians 1:1-11. The Philippian church held a very special place in Paul's heart, and he begins his letter by telling them this. He remembers what God has done in this city, and in joy he gives thanks to God. In verse 5 we see why. It's because of their partnership in the gospel.

Last week I looked up this word partnership. I was surprised to learn that the Greek word is koinonia. Most Christians have heard this word. One of the places it's found is Acts 2:42-47. We find the word in verse 42, and here it is translated as fellowship. Now think about this for a second. In our culture, and especially in our church culture, the word fellowship is very different from the word partnership. We desire true community. We desire to know and to be known. But it often stops there. Not for Paul, though. For Paul, true koinonia has an active component.

This is why mission trips are so powerful. Ask someone about their best church experience, about the time they felt a part of something, about the time they felt that they truly belonged - the answer is very often associated with mission. It's about being caught up into something greater than yourself. It's about having a common goal that takes the entire team's effort to pull off. This is why mission and community cannot be separated. And it's why true koinonia cannot be separated from partnership.

Luke 4

Scripture

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said,‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Observation

I had one of those great aha! moments reading this. I've always been taught that one of the ways that we resist temptation is to quote Scripture, like Jesus did during His temptation. When Satan tempts us, his first goal is to get us to believe a lie. So we combat these lies, these false promises, with truth. But get this...do you know that Satan also quotes Scripture? Satan knows Scripture better than we do, and he knows how to twist Scripture. That's scary, isn't it!

Application

The first step of fighting sin is understanding that Satan is so much smarter than I am. He is very clever, very sneaky. The Bible says that he's like a lion, prowling around looking for something to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Here's the good news, though. Just as Jesus resisted, so we are to resist. And I don't believe that God would give us this command if it weren't possible to obey it. Even though Jesus was weak, and even though Satan was coming at him quoting Scripture, he stood firm. He still responded with Scripture. Soon after this, Satan left. He knew that Jesus wasn't going to fall.

Prayer

Father, may I never underestimate the power of Satan, but even more so, may I never underestimate Your power. May I continue to grow closer to You, and continue to become the person that You are calling me to be.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

You Might Be in Community If...

One of the things I'm most excited about when it comes to Neighborhood Church is the community that we're experiencing. It's been intentional in some ways, but it's also happened pretty naturally. Mandy posted a great reminder of the "life together" that we are sharing.

Fighting for One Another

Here's a quote by John Eldredge from Waking the Dead. Michael Frost quotes it in his books Exiles, which I'm currently reading as prep for Sunday night's message.

God is calling together little communities of the heart, to fight for one another and for the hearts of those who have not yet been set free. The camaraderie, that intimacy, that incredible impact by a few stouthearted souls – that is available. It is the Christian life as Jesus gave it to us. It is completely normal.

Fight Club

Last week I finished up reading Fight Clubs, by Jonathan Dodson. You can download it for free here. It's a quick read, but very helpful on the topics of discipleship, fighting sin, accountability, religion, and the gospel.

I also just came across audio from a men's conference on this same subject.

My Busy Summer

With the summer winding down, I thought I'd take a little time to reflect. This has been a very busy summer, especially for my mind. Since February I have been the primary teacher at Neighborhood Church, and though I love it more than I would have ever guessed, it's been tiring. Our leadership team decided earlier this year that I should not teach more than three times per month, so we've had several guest speakers. This has given me much needed breaks, but it's also been very good for our church to hear some additional voices. Last Sunday night I finished up a series on the book of Acts. My hope with this series was that it would lay a solid biblical foundation for what it means to be a local church in Memphis in 2009. This Sunday night I'm beginning an 8-week series on the vision of NC. I'll be writing some blog posts on this during the next few weeks.

We also began having community groups this summer. They've been great. They're messy at times, but also beautiful. My guess is that we've had more people in our community groups this summer than we've had on Sunday nights for our worship gatherings. Definitely something there to consider. Last Wednesday night we began a conversation on how to build bridges within the gay and lesbian community here in Midtown. Over the last couple of months I've probably spent at least 40 hours studying this topic. It's a very emotional topic, for me and for our church, but one that we want to be able to address. We're going to continue the dialog this Wednesday night. Blog posts and internet articles have been my primary resources, though the two books that have been most helpful have been Andrew Marin's Love is an Orientation, and Robert Gagnon and Dan Via's Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views.

Though this summer has been tiring for me, it's also been the best one when it comes to family and community. My time with Mandy and the boys has been great. God has blessed me so much with an amazing wife and two wonderfully charming little boys. They make life better. Adam just started pre-k, and Mandy's at home with Micah this year. She's also working part-time for the church. As to community, our friends enrich our lives in so many ways. Last Friday night we had a CYPN (Cooper-Young Parent's Network) party at our house. We had 40 people in our backyard, which I did not think was even possible. That included 15 kids under the age of 5. I definitely didn't think that was possible. It was such a great time for everyone.

I'm glad that summer is drawing to a close simply because that means it's about to get cooler and the leaves are going to begin changing colors. I love Memphis in the fall. There's such a sense of anticipation within me. It might sound simple, but I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to walking Adam to school. That time is here, and I'm thankful for it.

Though I feel that my mind is a little muddy right now, I know that God has been teaching me so much. He's been giving me what I need when I need it, and for that I'm very thankful.

How I Got Here - Missional Community

A year or so after reading the Cutting Edge article about Vineyard Central, I picked up the magazine again and noticed an article about a church that had been started in Washington D.C. in 1947. That church was called The Church of the Saviour, and the planters were Gordon and Mary Cosby. I guess I had skipped this article because I was so excited after reading about Vineyard Central. But I also think it was a timing issue.

Probably the biggest takeaway from this was the idea of Inward/Outward Journey. It's definitely influenced the vision of our church today. It was the idea that the church exists for God's mission. It's much bigger than simply coming together once a week. And it's not meant to be done alone. It was also around this time that I first heard the term "missional community". I don't remember where I first heard it, but I was impacted by it, and primarily so because of what I read from this church.

Here's the quote that I couldn't get out of my mind for a long time:

...the greatest impact on the world comes about by small, highly committed and disciplined communities of people focused on outward mission, inward transformation, and loving, accountable community.

This became a mission statement for me, and something that I desired to be a part of more than anything else.

How I Got Here - Community

The first article I want to mention comes from Vineyard's church planting magazine, Cutting Edge. It was the Fall 2001 issue, and the article that got my attention was on a church called Vineyard Central (located just outside Cincinnati). I unfortunately couldn't find a link to this article, so I'll just share why it impacted me.

Vineyard Central was a pretty typical church plant, when one day, a year or so in to the plant, they received word that the building they were meeting in for their worship gatherings was being condemned, and they had 48 hours to get out. Plan B was meeting in homes. It was something that God had begun laying on their hearts previously, but they didn't think it would happen like that.

I was impacted by the community I saw in the pages I read. It was true "life together", and it was something that I had never experienced before. Yet God, through this article, began placing within me a deep desire to "be church" rather than to "go to church." That fire has never died, and almost eight years later, I feel that some of this dream is being realized.

Ordinary People/Gospel Intentionality

One of my favorite phrases from Total Church is "Ordinary people living ordinary lives with Gospel intentionality." It's a phrase I'm going to be using most weeks during our Acts study at NC. Anyway, here is a great series of Twitter posts from Steve Timmis (co-author of the book) on what this tangibly looks like.

• Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … buying from local shops.
• Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … frequenting a local coffee shop or pub.
• Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … playing for a local sports team.
• Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … always tipping generously in local restaurants.
• Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … being the kind of neighbour everyone wants to have as a neighbour.

More.

Weekly Links

Tim Chester's summary of the one-another passages in the New Testament

I started teaching a six-week series on the book of Acts at Union Ave. Baptist Church two weeks ago, and these posts by Perry Noble and Tim Chester have been helpful.

In another post from Perry Noble (who I've just started reading), he makes the statement: "I believe that God is getting ready to do something unlike He has ever done before." I think I'm starting to believe this as well. Jesus, I believe; help my unbelief.

Here's a great story from Scot McKnight's blog on the power of the Scriptures.

Jonathan Dodson on Simplified Missional Living - practical yet powerful.

One of the phrases that stuck out to me in Newsweek's article "The End of Christian America" was "religion is 'losing influence' in American society." Read the article for the context of this quote, but I for one am excited by the possibilities.

TED Conferences cost thousands of dollars to attend, but you can watch the videos online for free.

You'll be happy to know that Micah has been doing a little modeling.

Weekly Links

• Starbucks now has free wi-fi. Go here to sign up.
  
  
• Rolling Stone interviews Chris Martin of Coldplay. The title of the article: "Jesus of Uncool."
  
  
• Speaking of Coldplay, their new album is out today (yay!), and you can stream it in its entirety here. Note that you might have to download a plugin.
  
  
• Kevin Rains writes about positive deviance. Very thought provoking. Be sure to check out the Fast Company article as well.
  
  
• Great quote by Elizabeth Fiorenza on the relationship between spiritual formation, community & mission.
  

A Community Embodying the Gospel

I've been reading The Tangible Kingdom, by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. It's a great book, and has really helped me to frame my thoughts. I mentioned earlier today that our church played in the park last night instead of having our normal gathering inside the Skinner Center. This book is really helping me to see that the gospel must be embodied by the church before it can be understood by the world. Last night I think we did a bit of this.

You've probably heard the Francis of Assisi quote, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." I've always appreciated that. I've heard Tim Keller say that it's impossible for the gospel to be communicated without words, and I guess he's essentially right, but I think the words are secondary to Christ-followers living out their faith in practical ways. Or, another way of saying it would be that we get to verbally share Christ because we have lived Christ first.

I promise that all of this is leading up to a point, and here's that point: I think it's powerful when an individual lives out the Gospel in the presence of their neighbor, but something extra special happens when a community begins doing this. It's almost as if it is taken to a whole new level. I felt like we had a little bit of that last night. Whether it was cooking hot dogs and turkey burgers, or filling up water guns for the kids, or just sitting and listening to a person, I think we were attractive to our neighborhood, and I believe that as we continue to do that, we will have opportunities to verbally share Christ with them.

Small Groups at National Community Church

Here is a list of NCC's 83 different small group opportunities offered this semester.

Here is an FAQ on their small groups.