The Centrality of the Heart

I'm in the middle of reading a really great book by Paul Tripp called How People Change. Here's a great quote on the centrality of the heart.

The average Christian defines sin by talking about behavior. For example, what is the goal of most Christian parents? Is it not to get their children to do the right things? We set up all kinds of relational, motivational, and corrective structures to constrain and direct our children’s behavior. These structures are not without value, but if this is your only response to your child’s rebellion and sin, you will leave him defenseless against sin once he leaves home and the structures are no longer there.

Beneath the battle for behavior is another, more fundamental battle— the battle for the thoughts and motives of the heart.

The heart is the real or essential you. All of the ways in which the Bible refers to the inner person (mind, emotions, spirit, soul, will, etc.) are summed up with this one term: heart. The heart is the steering wheel of every human being. Everything we do is shaped and controlled by what our hearts desire.

That is why the Bible is very clear that God wants our hearts. Only when God has your heart does he have you. As much as we are affected by our broken world and the sins of others against us, our greatest problem is the sin that resides in our hearts. That is why the message of the gospel is that God transforms our lives by transforming our hearts.

Lasting change always comes through the heart. This is one of Scripture’s most thoroughly developed themes, but many of us have missed its profound implications. We need a deeper understanding of Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

Worth Reading?

Here are a few good blog posts and articles I've read over the past week.

John Stott on Singleness

Hugh Halter on kids in the micro church - make sure you check out the photo.

Paul Tripp on what the gospel means to our life right now

David Fitch on the need for missional rhythms in our micro churches

God's Heart for Urban Education 3

David Waters was at our gathering the night David Montague spoke. Afterwards he wrote a great article on MTR. Here's part of that article.

Virginia Boyd wants to serve God and Memphis by becoming the best math teacher any city school kid has ever had.

David Montague and Robin Scott want to serve God and Memphis by helping Virginia do that.

"You don't have to talk about the love and compassion and mercy of Christ to demonstrate it," said Montague, a former stockbroker turned public school evangelist. "Becoming the best math teacher a kid's ever had is a valid response to the gospel."

Montague and Scott are leading the Memphis Teacher Residency, one of many nonprofit organizations that have responded to the Gates Foundation's $90-million challenge to put an effective teacher in every Memphis City Schools classroom.

Like Teach for America and the Memphis Teaching Fellows, MTR seeks to recruit, train and support outstanding urban educators in Memphis. What makes MTR different is its mission to do that "within a Christian context."

MTR's "Christian context" comes in the motivation, not the implementation.

"It's a shared mission, that's the heart of it," said Scott, a former Indiana public school teacher and MTR's director of education. Teaching in large, urban systems "is too hard, too demanding not to have a sense of mission about it," Scott said. "You have to see urban education as a calling."

MTR recruits and accepts only candidates who believe that teaching in large, urban public schools systems is a Christian calling, not just a career. But candidates also must believe they should not discuss their faith in a public school setting.

"America is not short on information about the gospel," said Montague, a former Christian missionary who directs MTR's work from offices in the basement of Union Avenue Baptist Church. "It is short on demonstrations of the power of the gospel."

MTR's mission is to demonstrate the love of Christ by recruiting Christians who are committed to transforming the city's public schools into bastions of academic excellence for all children.

Christians committed to seeing academic achievement gaps as biblically unjust.

Christians committed to sacrificing their own standards of living to improve those of others.

Christians committed to serving their neighbors' children and not just their own.

"Twenty years from now," said Dr. Maxie Dunnam, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church, "when our educational system is more effectively and fairly serving the children of our city, we will look back and realize that David Montague and Memphis Teacher Residency Program played a major role in getting us to that place."

Read more here.

God's Heart for Urban Education 2

And now for some good news...God is up to something in Memphis!

Before diving into what that "something" is, let's hit a couple of theological points. The Bible speaks of a God who is not only capable of doing extraordinary things, but also one who desires to do so. In other words, our God is not only strong but also loving. If you believe this, then there's another point that the Bible makes clear over and over, and it's this: God loves to do the impossible, and He loves to use weak, desperate and dependent people in the process.

Everybody knows that Memphis has some BIG problems. Several times it has ranked at the top of various "worst cities" reports. So what a great place for God to do something extraordinary! As David pointed out, the richest man in the world has given $90 million to Memphis schools, and the most powerful man in the world has given $500 million to Tennessee, much of which will make its way to Memphis.

Oh yeah, and it was just announced that this same most powerful man in the world will be heading to Memphis in a couple of weeks to give the commencement speech at Booker T. Washington High School!!!

David believes that the epicenter for urban education reform is our city. All of the education reform organizations are now making their way to Memphis, and the world is watching to see what will happen next.

And what about the Church? Well, we get the opportunity to be the subversive community that we were meant to be. As David reminded us, the Roman Empire came to believe that Jesus was supreme not because the Christians were the most powerful political organization. It was actually just the opposite. The Christians had no political clout. They had actually been persecuted for 300 years. Instead, they were living out their beliefs in radical ways. They entered into the problems and saw God do the extraordinary through them living their ordinary lives with Gospel intentionality.

Today let us too enter into the big problems of our city, and together dream God-sized dreams, and then let us watch God do what only He can do!

Why We Talk About Sin 4

Because we're as messed up as you!

Understanding our sin should not lead to fear or condemnation but to humility and gratitude. It should not lead to hiding behind a mask but to being more fully human than you've ever been before. I love this quote by Brennan Manning, from The Ragamuffin Gospel:

To be alive is to be broken. And to be broken is to stand in need of grace. Honesty keeps us in touch with our neediness and the truth that we are saved sinners. There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.

It is so easy for me to put that mask on and pretend (to myself and to others) that I am ok. But understanding my brokenness leads to a freedom that does not exist any other way. James (Jesus' brother) said that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. As I recognize my brokenness more and more, it should create in me an awareness of my true dependency. This then humbles me because I know that I am loved and accepted by my Father. I know that He has chosen me and pursues me.

And here's what else it does. It prevents me from having a posture that says, "I have everything together. I have no problems or worries. My life is awesome." Instead, I can be honest and say that I don't have a clue what I'm doing many days, but I trust my Father to guide my steps. I'm ok with that answer.

Why We Talk About Sin 3

Because before we can understand how bad things were, we need to understand how really good they were when it all started.

Now I realize that may sound like a contradiction in light of yesterday's post, but hear me out. We often think of "sin" as doing bad things, of breaking rules. But Cornelius Plantinga, author of Not the Way It's Supposed to Be, defines sin as a violation of shalom.

Before we can understand how bad sin is, we need to first understand the way God intended things to be (which is a good way of explaining the word "shalom"). We normally begin the "sin" discussion with Genesis 3, which is the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience. But we need to go back to Genesis 1 and 2, which is the story of God creating everything. After each day, God said, "It is good." God took great delight in everything that He created, including man and woman. Actually, after the creation of man and woman, He said, "It is very good."

God's design was for man and woman to be in relationship not only with one another but also with Himself. And that relationship was meant to be one built on trust. Man and woman were created to trust God for everything they needed, and through that to give thanks to Him for that provision and love. That trust was then to spill over to their relationship with each other. The Bible indicates this to be the case when it says that they were naked and not ashamed. Things were very good! Yet we know what happened. They chose not to trust God. They believed a lie that they no longer needed Him, that they could be like Him. The irony is that they were actually more like Him before they sinned than they ever would be again.

A few years ago I remember reading this story and being stopped in my tracks by the following verse:

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves (Gen. 3:8).

I started thinking, "I wonder if this walking together in the cool of the day was a part of their evening routine?" It's as if God was doing what He did every evening. But on this particular evening, something was different. His children did not join Him. This is a great picture of intimacy to me, and the sad thing is that after sin entered the picture, the intimacy they had with their Father and Creator was broken. It doesn't appear that they ever took these walks again. But it didn't stop there. It was also broken between the man and the woman (remember, it was at the point of sin entering the picture that they first felt shame). And this brokenness continues to affect all of us.

So that's how things started. The Bible also tells us how things will end. Revelation 21 says that there will come a day when God will once again walk with His people. He will make His dwelling place with them, and get this: He will come near to wipe away every tear from the eyes of His children. Intimacy will once again be fully restored.

So we see how it began and we see how it ends. For now we have the Gospel. Yes, it's a time of tension, but it's a time of God doing His work of redeeming and restoring that which was lost and broken. God's work involved sending His Son to earth to make right what was wrong. And He did it through His death on the Cross. Through Christ's death we can once again be reconciled to God. We can truly know God, our Father and Creator.

Why We Talk About Sin 2

First, a more theological response...Before we can really appreciate why the gospel is "good news", we should first seek to understand how bad the bad news really is. And that's why we talk about sin.

The Bible says in many places that God's desire has been to save/rescue/set free His people. The question that must be asked is, "From what do we need to be saved/rescued/set free?" There are lots of things that could be mentioned here, but I'll let Paul do the talking, from Ephesians 2.

Paul begins this chapter by saying that at one time we were all dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1). In other words, we were unresponsive to God. The reason for this was that we were slaves. First, we were following the ways of the world. When Paul speaks of "the world" here, he is referring to the earthly system that opposes God's reign. Think about the The Matrix here. It wasn't until you were outside the Matrix that you realized the truth, that everyone in the Matrix was a slave. And the crazy thing was that they didn't even know it. That's how we were.

Next, Paul brings up Satan. The Bible says (and Bob Dylan later echoes it) that we all "Gotta Serve Somebody." If our allegiance is not to God, then it's to somebody else. And the Bible says that Satan is "the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). So when we were dead in our sins, our allegiance was to Satan instead of to God.

Now I know that most people don't consider themselves to be loyal to Satan. So if you're not buying that one, hang in there for this last one. Paul says that the third thing we were captive to were the passions of our flesh. All that means is this: we're in charge, and we do what we want to do when we want to do it. But this is also why the things that we fill ourselves with in hopes of bringing satisfaction or meaning often leave us unsatisfied or even empty. St. Augustine said it this way: "You (God) have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." To be held captive by the passions of your flesh means that your heart is restless, and nothing other than God will fully satisfy.

So before God stepped in, sin held us in such a way that there was no way that we could be who were created to be. And that's bad news. However, Paul doesn't end with bad news. The rest of Ephesians 2 contains words such as mercy, love, grace and kindness. This is who God is, and this is where good news comes. The Gospel says that God, because of His great love for us, came and redeemed dead slaves (that's us). However, this redemption cost something: His Son, Jesus. Jesus' death brought our freedom, and that is extremely good news!

On Glenn Beck & the Rally

Over the past week I've heard or read a number of opinions on the rally last Saturday in Washington DC. And they've been varied, from the one lady I spoke to who was so hopeful after watching it (even though he's a Mormon), to very angry editorials that are all over the internet. So when I read this piece by Russell Moore, I was very encouraged. Here are the opening paragraphs:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

And then Moore writes,

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah.

Finally,

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.

Any thoughts?

You Can Change 4

In chapter 3 of Tim Chester's book You Can Change we're presented with the question "How Are You Going to Change?" Tim Keller says that religion leads to either pride or despair. Chester has so far talked a lot about pride. But at some point, we realize that we can't check off all the boxes. We come to the conclusion that change is not really possible. The pride that we had in our achievements now turns to despair. And that's where the gospel comes in. Chester writes, "The glorious good news of Jesus is that you and I can change" (41).

The problem is that we try to change in the wrong way, and for most of us, this involves the law (legalism). We believe that if we just try harder, or do this and don't do that, or make lists that we can check off, that we eventually will see change. The problem is that the law was never meant to bring change. The purpose of the law is to show us that we can't change ourselves, that something else is needed. And that something else is Christ.

This is why we must not only repent of sin, but repent of our righteousness as well. In other words, we repent of trying to make ourselves "right with God" based on our efforts. This is the foundation for change. It's understanding that it's impossible on our own, that we are completely dependent on God for anything good to happen.

This is where God's sanctifying work through the Holy Spirit comes in (2 Thess. 2:13). Whereas we often try to change our behavior, God goes straight for the heart. That's the only way lasting change can happen. Ezekiel 36 says that God has removed our heart of stone and given us a new heart of flesh.

But not only has God given us new hearts, He also sent Jesus to die on the Cross so that sin would no longer reign. Paul says, "We know that our old self was crucified with him (Jesus) in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin" (Romans 6:6-7).

Because of Christ's work on the Cross, and the Spirit's continual sanctifying work in our hearts, we do not have to be slaves of sin. By the grace of God, we can change because we are changed. We can be led by the Spirit instead of the flesh. We will of course continue to face temptation (Chester says that we're like a former prisoner who still wakes at prison hours, or like a freed slave who still jumps at his old master's voice), but we don't have to sin. The key is repentance, which is a daily activity for God's people. Every day we remind ourselves that it is only through God's work that we that we have abundant life, that we have forgiveness, that we have freedom. And this repentance opens the door for God's Spirit to move in our hearts.

You Can Change 2

Chapter 2 of Tim Chester's excellent book You Can Change is titled "Why Would You Like to Change?" He begins by giving three common reasons.

The first is to prove ourselves to God. We want to change because we think that by doing so we will gain favor with God. Perhaps that favor is salvation, or maybe it's just daily blessing. The problem with this is that it's nothing more than religion, which says, according to Tim Keller, "I obey in order to be accepted." Religion is not the Gospel. The Gospel says that we're accepted because of what Christ has done. That's it. There's nothing we can do to make God love us. And there's nothing we can do to make him love us any less. The work has been done.

The second reason we have for wanting to change is to prove ourselves to other people. We want others to be impressed, so we wear a mask, because if people knew what we were really like on the inside, they would be far from impressed! The problem with this is that it is possible to deceive people with our impressive masked-man living, yet when we do that, we no longer need a Savior. We might be living up to their standards, but we need to seek a higher standard - that of God's.

The final reason Chester gives for why we want to change is to prove ourselves to ourselves. Sin brings shame, and none of us likes to feel bad. We want to change so that we no longer feel bad. The problem with this is that we've forgotten that our sin is truly an offense to God, not just to ourselves.

The big problem with all of these is that it's about me. It's about my glory, which, according to Chester, is the definition of sin (living for my glory instead of God's). With all of these, we become our own savior and have no need for Christ. We have no need for the Cross. Chester quotes John Gerstner here: "The thing that really separates us from God is not so much our sin, but our damnable good works" (25).

Change can only come when we realize that the work was completed by Jesus. Jesus' work allows for true change to take place. Chester says, "Holiness is new affections, new desires, and new motives that then lead to new behavior. If you don't see your sin as completely pardoned, then your affections, desires, and motives will be wrong" (28).

You Can Change 1

I just started reading Tim Chester's You Can Change. So far an excellent read, one that I'm going to recommend everyone at NC read. Here's what Tim Keller says about the book: "A book about Christian growth that is neither quietistic nor moralistic is rare. A book that is truly practical is even rarer. Tim Chester's new volume falls into both categories."

In this post I want to give some observations from chapter 1, which is titled "What Would You Like to Change?" Chester starts out by saying that most of our answers to this question (our appearance, new job, less anger, etc) are not ambitious enough. The reason? Because we were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Remember, at the end of each of the six days of creation God said, "It is good," but at the end of the seventh day, after creating humanity, He said, "It is very good." Anything less than God's ideal for us is settling.

Yet we have a problem, and it's the same thing I posted about in the review of week 1 of Fight Club. It's that humanity is broken because of our rebellion against God. We've fallen short of reflecting God's glory, which was the creation intent (Romans 3:23). Because of that brokenness, we're no longer able to be the people we were created to be.

I love the beginning of the next paragraph: "Enter Jesus." He is the true image, the One who did live as we were meant to live, the One who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4) and radiates the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus not only shows us how to live the life we were meant to live, but through the Cross He provides the means for us to do it. Hence, we call this good news!

Here's my favorite quote of the chapter: "Jesus isn't just good for us - he is good itself. He defines good. The secret of gospel change is being convinced that Jesus is the good life and the fountain of all joy. Any alternative we might choose would be the letdown" (15).

So the key to change is first understanding that we, as Switchfoot says, "were meant to live for so much more." Second, we have to understand that because of sin's reign in the world, we're incapable of doing this on our own (bad news). Third, we have a Redeemer who has conquered sin and death and provided a way to live as we were meant to live (good news). Finally, the key to embracing this is to turn to Jesus, the author of our salvation and the perfecter of our faith.

Fight Club - Session 1

JB started with this quote: "When men become men, everything else gets better. The tragedy, and reality, is that the opposite is also true."

Amen to that. I'm really glad that John Carroll told me about Fight Club a couple of months ago. Going into 2010, I really wanted to provide an outlet for the guys I know to hear what the Bible says about men. As soon as I read the manifesto from Fight Club, I knew that this what I was looking for.

So this morning at 6:30 the new 5-week session of Fight Club kicked off. Here are my notes from this morning's talk.

Genesis 1-2 reveals the five noble pathways: Manhood, Womanhood, Marriage, Parenthood & Calling/Vocation. Genesis 1 is all about God creating. Genesis 2 is all about him giving his creation mandate to Adam. Now it's Adam's turn. Sin enters the picture in Genesis 3, and the good relationship and the good work is broken. JB said that Genesis 3:6 is the most damning verse for men in the Bible. Here's the paraphrase: The serpent came to Eve and deceived her. So she ate of the fruit, then gave it to Adam, "who was with her", and he ate. It was Adam's biggest opportunity to be a man, yet he failed to step up. He was passive.

The results of the fall are two-fold. On the one hand, we have people like Eve, who decide that they know better than God what they need. They rebel and want their own way. This is like the younger brother in Luke 15. He said that men who fall into this category never become true men. In our culture today we have the phenomena of extended adolescence. These are the "dudes" who go away to college and then move back in with their parents. They don't get a job. They don't have any responsibilities. Their lives are marked by laziness, video games, and consumption.

On the other hand, we have people like Adam, who decide that they will look the part in order to please God. This is religion, and it mirrors the older brother in Luke 15. These are the cowards. They can talk a big game, but they are scared to make their lives count for something. They have problem making decisions for themselves, much less for anyone else. And many of them turn into critics (many through the blogosphere).

That's the bad news. Here's the good news: the original plan of God has not waned. The call to create and cultivate still goes out. And the even better news is that God has a plan for our brokenness. It's the Gospel, and we first see indicators of it in Genesis 3. The fig leaves that they had made to cover their nakedness did not do what they hoped it would do. Their sin was still apparent to God. They still felt shame. So God took the skin from an animal and clothed them with it. He then sent them back into their work, only the work would now be difficult because of the brokenness now present in the world.

So much of this brokenness has marked me through the years, yet I know that God is working on me. How I am grateful for the Gospel!

A Good Kind of Control

As a Christian, I know that dependence on God in all things is good for me. Whenever I get to the point where I feel as if I have to make my life happen, I'm one step away from bondage. I'm learning that taking control of one's life is in direct opposition to the Gospel. The goal is to give up control, to become completely dependent on the only One who can truly meet my needs. I love the way Eugene Petersen paraphrases Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-30:

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Having said that, I've been giving a lot of thought recently to the good and healthy kind of control that comes as a result of this. As I said a couple of days ago, I have been in a great place of rest the last few weeks, and the outcome has been great productivity. The principle once again is this: It's only after we've rested in God that we can work with God in the way He intended. And the amazing thing is that within this place of rest we actually have more control than we've ever had before.

Here's the irony. We think we have two options. Either we're in control or God is in control. But that's not completely accurate. When we think we're mastering something, we so often discover that we are actually the ones being mastered. Let's use money as an example. The cycle goes like this: (1) We work in order to make money so that we can pay our bills; (2) As is so often the case, either not enough money comes in, or the bills are higher than expected; (3) We worry. We freak out. Sound familiar? And here's how it's related to our time: (1) We work long hours to make more money; (2) We don't have time for those closest to us; (3) We're stressed out all the time; (4) We use money to buy things for those closest to us to make up for not spending time with this.

But here's the flip side. Rest and dependence leads to freedom, and freedom is not overrated! Freedom leads to a healthy sense of control. In this place of freedom we realize that we can make decisions. Some of those decisions lead to more freedom, while some lead to more bondage. In that place of freedom we are no longer being controlled by things.

You and I were never meant to bear the responsibility of running our lives, of making our lives happen. When we truly begin to believe this, we experience great freedom in seeing our lives lived out as they were meant to.

Amos Story - Pt 2

Just watched this video again. Reminded me of one of the best quotes from the conference.

Aaron Ivey: Adoption is one of the clearest pictures of the Gospel that we have.

Think about that as you read these lyrics. Then watch the video again.

I'll find a way to get you here

If it takes my fleeting breath

Another sunrise hits the ground

And it's a dark lonely sight

Light years away I hope you know

There is somebody searching

For the way to get you here

Close your eyes and dream

Of a better day with me

As angels hold you tight,

May you sleep in peace tonight

Luke 6

I'm going to focus this post on Luke 6:17-36.

I find it interesting that the people in the crowd are the same people that Jesus spoke about in his first sermon. But now, instead of talking about how his plan includes them, he's telling them face to face! These are the folks who have been drawn to him. These are the ones who've traveled a long way just to hear him. Many have come because they know that he can help them. Some are lame, some have diseases, and others are "troubled with unclean spirits." Jesus is demonstrating, or "signing", the Kingdom.

These people are poor, they're hungry, they've been weeping, they've been hated, they've been excluded, they've been reviled, and their names have been spurned as evil. He is telling them that there is a place for them in his Kingdom. He is their King. He is their long awaited Messiah. The Gospel is called "good news" for a reason, and this news is truly good to this crowd of people.

Jesus doesn't stop there, though. He contrasts this "good" news with some bad news. He gives four "woe's", and it's basically the opposite of the good news. For those who right now are rich, full, laughing, and well thought of, Jesus has some warnings. What is Jesus saying here? Nothing in Scripture reveals that these are in of themselves sins. It's not a sin to have money or to have food or to laugh. I think Jesus is saying that these people (or could I say "we") need to Kingdom to come just as much as, or possibly more than, the first group.

The first group knows their need. It's evident to everyone. But the second group can easily miss what God is doing. When we have money and food, it is easy to believe that we are independent, that we don't need a King. Jesus is saying that this is a foolish, and even dangerous, place to be.

May we know our great neediness today, King Jesus. May we look to You to be our sustenance. May we not for a second be deceived in believing that anything we have is of our own doing, but instead may we remember that "every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17), and may our worship be an appropriate response.

Why I Quit Blogging through Luke

You might have noticed that I began blogging my way through the Gospel of Luke in September, but then I quit, and a month has now passed. I promise you that it's not simply procrastination. Here's the deal: I got to chapter six, and realized that I could have easily written about good trees producing good fruit (6:43-45), or the importance of building on a solid foundation (6:46-49). However, I wasn't so sure about that first part, specifically all those "blessed's" and "woe's." For that reason, I felt that I couldn't write, much less preach, on this until I had a better understanding. I had this hunch that understanding a passage such as this one was key to understanding this radical Gospel as a whole.

So that brings me to today, and more specifically, to my last few days in Cincinnati at the CCDA Conference. I had the privilege of being around many men and women who have forsaken so much in order to live out and proclaim the gospel in difficult settings. To say that I was moved would be a major understatement, however. There was a moment on Friday night where I felt as if God was ripping out my heart. I came to the understanding that my view of the Gospel is very incomplete, so I repented to God and asked for understanding. Now hear me out - I know that none of us know completely, but I realized that there are some major gaps in my understanding.

I feel that over this past year my gaps have been growing smaller. I chalk much of that up to what I have learned listening to and reading Tim Keller. My understanding of the difference between the Gospel and religion has grown so much. What I'm learning right now is very similar to this.

For some time now I have really resonated with the idea of the upside-down Kingdom of God. The life and message of Jesus is radically counter-cultural to the way many of us live today. I've always believed that it was counter-cultural to the world, but I now believe that it is often counter-cultural to Christianity as well. Jesus taught us to pray, "Let Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven", but right now I wonder if we would actually recognize the Kingdom if this was a reality.

Shane Claiborne ended his talk on Saturday night by taking us to the the fall of the great whore of Babylon found in Revelation 17-19. He made a statement that shook me. He said, "I wonder if we will rejoice with the angels (18:2) or weep with the merchants (18:3) when we hear this news. Here's what's scarier than not recognizing the Kingdom coming: it's fighting against it. Why in the world would we fight against it? Because we do not see it for what it is. Because we do not hear. This is perhaps why Jesus said over and over, "He who has an ear, let him hear."

So with that as a rather long explanation, I will return to blogging through this great book of the Bible, asking God continually to give me the courage to see what He wants me to see and hear what He wants me to hear.

Luke 5

Scripture

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Observation

I love this story. The crowds were enamored with Jesus. They wanted to be near him. Luke says that they were "pressing in on him to hear the word of God." It's obvious that not all truly wanted to follow him. Some where there to watch a show. They had heard that he was healing people and casting out demons. But there were some who were drawn to him in such a way that they understood that their life was not as good as it would be if they were following him. This is true surrender, and it's true worship! We believe a lie when we simply think about sacrifice. Peter, Andrew, James and John all left their careers and family to follow Jesus. But they didn't spend their lives in regret. They followed Jesus because something inside them believed that it would be the best decision that they would ever make.

Application

Our next teaching series is on the subject of worship, and yesterday I was re-reading John Piper's Desiring God. I first read it during my senior year of college. As I read it a couple of days ago, I wondered if some of my passion for God has waned. Am I responding appropriately to who He is? Peter's response to Jesus was complete humility. He didn't even deserve to have Jesus in his boat, yet here he was. Do I understand what Jesus has done for me? How often do I reflect on this? As I write this, I'm thinking back to Matthew 13:44, in which Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven (God) is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

Prayer

This is the response that I desire to have. Following Jesus is a treasure. I have been given this treasure. I definitely don't deserve it, yet it's been offered to me. Today I desire to follow Jesus more than I desire anything else. Thank you, Father, for your grace. Thank you for continuing to seek after me. I repent of my inferior desires, and want all that you have for me.

Luke 3

Scripture

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

Observation

I wrestle with this passage alot. John the Baptist is hardcore. He comes on the scene after living for quite some time (Lk. 1:80) in the wilderness (in Matthew's Gospel we get more of a description of this peculiar man). The first words of his first sermon are "you brood of vipers." Nice! He tells them that repentance is required of all of them. He even throws out the name of their beloved Abraham, saying that they can't keep claiming to be his sons and daughters, but then not act anything like him.

The question I've always asked here is, why did they not try to kill him on the spot? I guess I ask this same question when Peter preaches at Pentecost. I believe that the answer on that day was the same answer on this day: they were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37). The Spirit of God was inviting them into relationship with Him. Their response was also similar to that day three years later: "What do we do?" John's answer was similar to Peter's answer: Repent. But John gives some very tangible examples of what that repentance looks like.

Application

Here's where it gets tricky. How am I faring when it comes to John's response of what repentance looks like? John doesn't give one answer for everyone. Repentance is situational. For each person it looks different. It all depends on our sin (which, according to Tim Keller, can be defined as building your identity on anything other than God) . He told tax collectors not to collect more money than they were supposed to. He told solidiers not to use their power to extort money.

It's easy to talk about soldiers and tax collectors, but what about everyone else. John doesn't let them off easy, and he doesn't let us off easy. To everyone else he gave a blanket statement: share what you have with those who are in need. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has social dimensions. I'm intrigued with this phrase "in keeping with." The Greek word is also used in 2 Thessalonians 1:3. Here's my take: these types of good deeds (Acts 26:20), or fruit, as John puts it, ought to be a natural overflow of true repentance in the same way that Paul's giving thanks to God for the Thessalonian church was a natural overflow to what God had done in their lives.

Prayer

Father, I ask that You search my heart. Am I producing the fruit that You desire, the fruit that should come naturally from a surrendered heart? If not, I repent. I receive Your grace and mercy, and I turn from leading my life. I thank You so much for Your love, forgiveness and mercy, and may my life reflect this in the way that I live today.

How Tim Keller Found Manhattan

Here's a great article on Tim Keller from Christianity Today. I've read a lot about Tim Keller and a lot from Tim Keller, but there were many new pieces to his story that I learned from reading this article. As a parent living in the city, it was good to read that he and his wife, Kathy, wrestled with moving their family of three boys from the suburbs to the city.

And terrifying to his wife, Kathy, who focused on their three boys, ages 5, 9, and 11, a.k.a. "the hellions." She couldn't imagine her unruly children surviving New York. "My mother said, 'All your kids will be in gangs by the end of the first week.'"

Kathy had a meeting with God in which she concluded that she would go and live in a cardboard box, if God told her to. The Kellers were finally ready to leave the suburbs and head for what they had thought of as hell.

But it wasn't hell. They had caught a vision for Manhattan as a place terribly underserved by the church, and a place with gigantic multipliers of influence throughout society. It was both needy and strategic.

Just as important, the Kellers discovered that they liked Manhattan. The kids thrived on the freedom of going anywhere by themselves via the subway. They were desperately proud of their dad and would tell checkout clerks about his new church. No longer was their rowdiness a problem. Kathy says they could never be the worst kids in their classes, "because the worst kids had jail time." They found a new group of heroes in the young adults who began attending Redeemer.

The other refreshing thing that came from reading this article was learning that the things that Keller knows now, he didn't know 20 years ago when he moved to Manhattan. There's no other pastor/teach/author I know that, after reading his work, I realize just how little I know. It's good to see that even Tim Keller is a work in progress!

One last quote from the article:

"The difference between a solid church and a terrible church is pretty much up to you," he tells one group. "The difference between a solid church and incredible success has almost nothing to do with you at all. It's like you are out there paddling on your surfboard, and suddenly the wave comes and you ride in, standing up like you're a Greek god. That has everything to do with the wave."

How I Got Here - Gospel

The Gospel as been described as a pool in which a toddler can wade and yet an elephant can swim. It is both simple enough to tell to a child and profound enough for the greatest minds to explore.

Tim Keller, The Gospel in All Its Forms

A little over a year ago I was at the Exponential Church Planting Conference in Orlando. One of the keynote speakers was Tim Keller. He gave a talk on the Gospel. He said that when you read the New Testament, it can seem at times as if there are two gospels. There's the gospel that Jesus preached, and there's the gospel that Paul preached. As you read this, you'll probably have one of two reactions: either Keller is a heretic for saying this, or you can relate to this tension. As I listened to his talk, and later read this article, I found myself in the second camp.

I was raised understanding the gospel (good news) as follows: God created me for relationship with Him. However, my sin caused that good relationship to be broken. Jesus died on the Cross as the penalty for my sin. Because of this amazing act, I can be forgiven and cleansed. To top it off, when I die I will spend the rest of eternity with God in heaven.

Keller describes this "form" of the gospel as Paul's gospel of justification. It's also seen in John's gospel. There's another form of the gospel, though. It's the form, or expression, found in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). This can be described as the gospel of the Kingdom, and it's the form that I began discovering several years ago.

I began to understand that Jesus came not just to forgive me of my sins and provide a way for me to go to heaven. His plan was much bigger than that. I was drawn to texts such as Luke 4:16-21, and I began hearing people talk about topics such as peace and justice. I began to understand that Jesus came to redeem the entire world. The gospel was no longer so much about me, but was instead about God's Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.

Keller says that we are not dealing with two gospels, but instead with two different forms of one gospel. John and often Paul speak of the individual implications of the gospel (eternal life), while Matthew, Mark and Luke speak of the corporate implications (how the gospel changes society). Both are essential. In this article Keller goes on to explain how he preaches these two expressions of the gospel, yet rarely ever at the same time.

I found this article to be so refreshing and helpful. I'll leave you with Keller's definition of the gospel (if it's possible to put the gospel into one statement, Keller does a fine job doing it):

Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.