What Gospel-Centered Preaching Does

This is from a message I received yesterday from a lady in our church:

I love having the Gospel preached every week. I've been a Christian for over 30 years now (wow! that's really long), and thought I understood it. And head-wise, I do. But I feel like this is the first time it's ever been presented in such a way as to really become life changing.

I've been receiving variations of this in response to preaching (and to my blogging!) for quite a while. And I am privileged enough to see in my congregation that these aren't mere words. People are showing the fruit of freedom, from a new light in their eyes to new lifestyles. But this message yesterday is just another needed reminder that the gospel is good news, not good advice, and that the gospel actually creates what the Law requires. The Law can't do that for itself.

Over at the Evangel blog today, I posted this:

Talking about how the gospel and the law relate to sanctification is no mere intellectual exercise for me. It’s not just one more idea for the blog. It made the difference between the crushing weight of my own sinful failure and the freedom that comes from tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. This is a real freedom, a freedom that makes “good works” a celebratory dance, not a day-laborers’ accumulation of sanctifying sweat equity. That way leads to burn out and bitterness. “Do not again return to a yoke of slavery,” Paul practically yells at us (in Galatians 5:1) . . .

It is counterintuitive, but wakefulness to the reality that the work is done makes us work more and harder. The gospel creates what the Law requires. And when we approach the notion of sanctification from the angle of “How much reminding of the spiritual homework can we do?” we miss the point entirely. It is often because we do not trust the proclamation to be effectual, and we do not really believe that the gospel is power in itself, that it bears fruit of itself.

In the comments there, a fellow (I think) agreed with the post but said the challenge is now then to get people to dance. I think we meet this challenge, though, not by telling them to dance, but by playing the music. That's what gospel-centered preaching is. Playing the great song of salvation and trusting it has the power to make people dance, as only the greatest of songs can.

Tim Keller on the Wonders of Gospel-Centrality

As I said, I am committed to gospel tunnel-vision. But it's not dark inside this tunnel. The glories of the king of the universe are in this vision! Here is Tim Keller:

1 Peter 1:12: “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

Angels love to look into the gospel. They never get tired of it. So what does that mean? It means gospel ministry is endlessly creative. It means you can preach the gospel and never have to be afraid of boring people . . .
Isn’t that amazing? The gospel is not the ABC’s of Christianity, it’s A to Z. It’s not just the elementary and introductory truths. The gospel is what drives everything that we do. The gospel is pretty much the solution to every problem. The gospel is what every theological category should be expounding when we do our systematic theology. It should be very much a part of everything.
Even angels long to look into it. And you should.

Some people will always be bored with the gospel. But pastors, sometimes they are because you're preaching it wrong. It's a sin to talk about this one life-giving truth in dispassionate ways.

Related:
The Beautiful Monotony of the Gospel

Why I'm Committed to Tunnel Vision About the Gospel Even Though it Perplexes Some People and Irritates Others

Because it was good enough for Paul.

Double Dose of Ortlund

Today I was just washing the dishes, staring out the window, and I started thinking about Ray Ortlund, Jr., who became a friend and mentor to me in a crucial time in my life and ministry, and I suddenly began weeping. That doesn't happen to me a lot. You know, I'm a pretty sensitive guy, but I don't cry about a . . . well, about a dude. :-)

Ray's blog Christ is Deeper Still has recently become the latest affiliate blog for The Gospel Coalition, of which he is a Council member. TGC's addition of Ray to their stable of bloggers is the best thus far. Few preachers and writers are as gospel-fixated as Ray.

If you're anywhere near the Nashville area -- and even if you're not -- you should absolutely try to get to the Death to Performance Conference being held February 10. Speakers include Ray and my friend Ed Stetzer, as well as Acts 29 President Scott Thomas and Journey Church Franklin Pastor Jamie George. Details here. The intended theme -- gospel-centered missional ministry in the Bible Belt -- is super-important.

Related:
My Tribute to Ray Ortlund
Ray Ortlund's Gospel Manifesto

The Gospel is Power

“It happens over and over again that the gospel ‘comes alive’ in a way that the evangelist had never dreamed of, and has effects which he never anticipated. The gospel is addressed to the human person as a human person in all the uncountable varieties of predicaments in which human beings find themselves.

The gospel has a sovereignty of its own and is never an instrument in the hands of the evangelist. Or, to put it more truly, the Holy Spirit, by whose secret working alone the gospel ‘comes alive,’ is not under the evangelist’s control. The wind blow freely.”

-- Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

The more I press into the reality that, for Paul, the gospel isn't just an informational proposition but an actual power let loose into the world bearing fruit by Spiritual catalyst, the more I am both confident in gospel proclamation and humble in proclaiming and then getting the heck out of the gospel's way.

Don't Sell Your Pulpit

No, this isn't an ode to church furniture. :-)

There's a curious and discouraging article in the November 20th Entertainment Weekly magazine about producers' efforts to "sell" the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road to Christians (by way of their pastors).

[T]he adaptation of . . . McCarthy's acclaimed novel about a father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) traveling through a bleak wasteland is getting the full pitch to Christian audiences . . . Plans include 15 advance screenings for church leaders nationwide, a website featuring free sermon and discussion guides, and a special trailer with extra scenes underscoring the film's moral message.

This is a relatively new phenomenon, but it has been successful in the past. The most notable film-to-pulpit crossover is undoubtedly The Passion of the Christ, which held advance screenings for ministers and church groups and later supplied resources for pastor use in sermons and group use in Bible studies. The teams that produced Facing the Giants and Fireproof followed suit, although their crossover into pulpit "advertising" was probably considered more acceptable as the movies were made within the Christian subculture pretty much for the Christian subculture. (Hollywood had lesser success but still some crossovers made with the Narnia adaptations and Evan Almighty.)

But The Road has no explicit Christian content. It may very well be the best film of all the films ever marketed for pulpit use, but elements reminiscent of Christian themes are the feeblest excuse for church marketing yet. The money quote from the EW article:

"There are pastors who might not be able to recommend [the film], but would preach about it. I've got a pastor right here in Dallas who's doing a sermon series on the end of the world, and I'm hoping that he'll incorporate some of the metaphors from this film into his sermons."

Ah, Dallas: the epicenter of evangelical awesomeness. ;-)

Cutting to the chase: The Road will probably be a good movie. Pastors can reference films (and other artifacts of popular arts and culture) till the cows come home. But this is not about helping pastors preach. This is about getting pastors to help impact a film's box office. None of these guys have impacting evangelical communities as their motivation: they want evangelical communities to impact their bottom lines. We are a market share, a consumer base.

Resist.

And any pastor who affords preaching time to help pitch a film because of some preferential treatment and free swag is a sell-out. I hope you have a congregation that cares and calls you out.

Pastoral Images and Aspirations In Need of Shattering

With the double honor of 1 Timothy 5:17 comes the double responsibility of James 3:1.

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church outside Dallas, gave a powerful message at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's chapel service yesterday morning. You can watch it here or listen to it here, and I encourage you to do so. It's worth anyone's time, but is especially good for anyone in church leadership or anyone aspiring to be in church leadership.

In his sermon, Chandler quotes from Eugene Peterson’s Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity:

For a long time, I have been convinced that I could take a person with a high school education, give him or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who would be satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The curriculum would consist of four courses.

Course I: Creative Plagiarism. I would put you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational talks, show you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and get you a reputation for wit and wisdom.

Course II: Voice Control for Prayer and Counseling. We would develop your own distinct style of Holy Joe intonation, acquiring the skill in resonance and modulation that conveys and unmistakable aura of sanctity.

Course III: Efficient Office Management. There is nothing that parishioners admire more in their pastors than the capacity to run a tight ship administratively. If we return all phone calls within twenty-four hours, answer all the letters within a week, distributing enough carbons to key people so that they know we are on top of things, and have just the right amount of clutter on our desk—not too much, or we appear inefficient, not too little or we appear underemployed—we quickly get the reputation for efficiency that is far more important than anything that we actually do.

Course IV: Image Projection. Here we would master the half-dozen well-known and easily implemented devices that that create the impression that we are terrifically busy and widely sought after for counsel by influential people in the community. A one-week refresher course each year would introduce new phrases that would convince our parishioners that we are bold innovators on the cutting edge of the megatrends and at the same time solidly rooted in all the traditional values of our sainted ancestors.

(I have been laughing for several years over this trade school training with which I plan to make my fortune. Recently, though, the joke has backfired on me. I keep seeing advertisements for institutes and workshops all over the country that invite pastors to sign up for this exact curriculum. The advertised course offerings are not quite as honestly labeled as mine, but the content appears to be identical—a curriculum that trains pastors to satisfy the current consumer tastes in religion. I’m not laughing anymore.)

Do Not Go Quietly

That is the name of the message I'm preaching this Sunday, from Titus 2:11-15:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

The gospel of God's grace in Jesus is an amazing trainer. It humbles us as it emboldens us. It drives us to our knees in awe while it empowers us to stand and walk. It takes away the burden of meritocratic discipleship while it moves us to a life of good works.

It calls us to deny ourselves as it gives us the authority of being ambassadors for the kingdom.

"Let no one disregard you," Paul says to Titus. This is similar to his admonition to Timothy to not let anyone look down on his youthfulness. But it is less specific and more emphatic: don't be disregarded.

Are you living as if the kingdom of God is a force to be reckoned with?

Jesus did not get betrayed and arrested and tortured and crucified because he taught peace, love, and good vibes. Anybody can ignore a hippie. But a guy who claims to be the Son of God? A guy who heals people and pronounces God's forgiveness and walks into the temple and acts like he owns the place? And then announces its destruction? That's somebody you have to deal with. You can't disregard him.

Pervaiz Masih clearly got this.

On October 20, two suicide bombers launched near simultaneous attacks on both the men's and women's side of the campus.

Afsheen Zafar, 20, is in mourning. Three of her classmates, girls she describes as "shining stars," were killed on that terrible day.

Still, she says the carnage could have been much worse if not for the actions of a lowly janitor, who was also killed.

"If he didn't stop the suicide attacker, there could have been great, great destruction," Zafar says.

"He's now a legend to us," says another 20-year-old student named Sumaya Ahsan. "Because he saved our lives, our friends' lives."

The janitor's name was Pervaiz Masih. According to eyewitness accounts, the attacker approached disguised in women's clothing. He shot the guard on duty, and then approached the cafeteria, which was packed with hundreds of female students.

Masih intercepted the bomber in the doorway, however, and the bomber self-detonated right outside the crowded hall, spraying many of his explosive vest's arsenal of ball bearings out into the parking lot instead of into the cafeteria.

"The sweeper who was cleaning up here saw someone outside and went towards him," said Nasreen Siddique, a cafeteria worker who was wounded in the head, leg and arm by the blast. "[Masih] told him that he could not come inside because there were girls inside. And then they started arguing. And then we heard a loud blast and all the glass broke."

"Between 300 to 400 girls were sitting in there," said Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, the rector of the university. "[Pervez Masih] rose above the barriers of caste, creed and sectarian terrorism. Despite being a Christian, he sacrificed his life to save the Muslim girls."

Masih was a member of Pakistan's Christian minority, traditionally one of the poorest communities in the country.

No, not "despite" being a Christian did he save Muslim girls. Because he's a Christian he saved Muslim girls.

Church in the West, we are living lives of disregard and consequently having little impact. Despite our big buildings and our big budgets and our big publishing empires and our big voting blocks and our big events and our big numbers, we are living in such a way to be disregarded.

We cannot afford to go quietly. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

"Give Us a King"

In what way is evangelicalism's prevailing pastoral emphasis -- from church job postings for pastoral positions to the Leadership cottage industry -- like Israel's asking for a king? And in what way is Saul, the king they got, like the pastoral type we most champion?

Is it possible evangelicalism is asking for a king (and getting what it asks for) all the while we should be cultivating within each other a desire for Saul's successor? Namely, a shepherd.

Just thinking aloud here.

The Wonderful Catch-22 of Gospel-Centered Preaching

Over at another blog this week I saw a commenter refer to a gospel-centered preacher as a "one-note Johnny." Regular readers are already familiar with the purpose of consistent gospel-centered preaching. (My most recent thoughts were on The Beautiful Monotony of the Gospel.) But the reason we have to keep urging gospel-centrality in preaching is the same reason why we all need to have the gospel beat into our heads continually: we are all tempted to depart from it.

The critic of the one-note Johnnyism of gospel-centrality just doesn't get it. But the gospel is versatile enough for those who do and don't. And there's the awesomeness of gospel-centered preaching! It's a wonderful Catch-22. Those who haven't yet experienced gospel wakefulness can only do so by hearing the gospel, and those who have experienced gospel wakefulness don't tire of hearing it!

5 Reasons I'm Averse to Video Venues

These are bullet points. There's quite a few smarter folks than me having substantive and substantial conversations on this subject. Check out David Fitch, recent posts at Out of Ur, a pro/con exchange series at 9 Marks, etc. for much more.

First, some disclaimers and caveats:

1) My aversion to the video venue multi-site movement is theologically informed and philosophically driven but not morally framed. What I mean is, I am not saying video venue multi-site is sinful or even unbiblical. I am not speaking to its wrongness per se, but rather hope to suggest it is not wise. Sort of a "not everything that is permissible is profitable" kind of thing.

2) Secondly, and this is going to sound really cliched, but Some of My Best Friends are Multi-Site Pastors. :-) And it's true. Through the Docent Group, all of the writing/research clients I have worked for are multi-site leaders. And they are all fantastic, humble, godly men who love Jesus, love the Church, and love seeing lost people get saved. In addition, I have friends and family who attend video venues for worship, and my favorite "celeb" preachers, the ones who most bless and edify and inspire me are without exception pastors of multi-site churches.

3) With that said, I do not offer any critique lightly. This is not just some throwaway exercise for me. I critique the multi-site thing knowing full well that I risk hurting the feelings of people I love and respect and admire, and that I may actually be jeopardizing my ability to continue working for some of my clients or the likelihood that they may endorse my books or invite me to speak at their events, etc. In other words, my opinions aren't offered in a vacuum of inconsequence.

But because I do love the local church and do love pastors of all varieties, I think it's important to engage this conversation with conviction, even if with gentleness. (Let the reader understand. :-)

So: why I'm averse to video venue multi-site whatchamacalits:

1) I do not think it is wise, in our consumer culture, to go down the path of continued un-incarnation.

This applies to the "virtual church" phenomenon in general, as well. In a day when the idolatry of the self and the mass production of "beauty" and the disconnection of individuals from each other are daily, constant, pernicious struggles, I don't think the church can afford to un-incarnate anything, much less its preaching. Video is by definition un-incarnational.

2) Video venues are not counter-cultural.

You can go a lot of ways with this thinking, sometimes overboard, but the kingdom of God is supposed to run counter to the way of the world. What I see in the worst examples of the video venue movement is just more accommodation of cultural values begun in the modern church's idolization of "relevancy" twenty years or so ago. All churches should be seeker sensitive (in the best sense of the phrase), by which I usually mean seeker comprehensible and seeker welcoming, and all churches should be good students of the culture and good workers at contextualization, but there is a line between contextualizing and accommodating, and I think video venues often cross the line. At what point do we look at cultural trends not as things to mirror and ape but to challenge and subvert. Technological movements in our culture may indeed all be neutral, but that does not automatically mean they are all suitable for uncritical ecclesiological appropriation. I am afraid many churches have moved from leveraging technology to merely mirroring whatever they think the world is into.

3) Video venues can reinforce the kind of pragmatism that has not served the church well at any point.

We are just now seeing the data revealing the fruit of the attractional paradigm, and it is not good. Big churches are increasing, but the numbers of Christians are not. By most accounts, the most churched states in the nation are in danger of soon-coming evangelical disaster. It's not just the Internet Monk saying this. It's Tim Keller too. Much of the video venue stuff is clearly from the same school of thought as the ecclesiological trajectory we are only now discovering was wrongheaded and impotent to grow disciples.

4) A video preacher can't be shot in the face.

Seriously.

5) Video venues assist the idolization of and over-reliance on pastors.

This is something Matt Chandler, himself the pastor of a church using video venues, brought up: Are we simply heading toward the day of 8 preachers in America?
There are a lot of sub-points under this general point:

- Would your church be able to open its satellite campus if the main pastor was not the one doing the preaching? If not, doesn't that say something important about the viability of your church and where it is centered?

- What happens if your pastor gets hit by a bus? Would your church collapse? Do you lose major attendees? Do satellite campuses have to close down? (And this is not just a problem with video venue churches, but with any church unhealthily centered on the personality of the pastor. A one-campus megachurch I attended fired its pastor and hundreds of people left. The vocal evacuees largely stated their inability(!) to attend a church where the fired pastor wasn't preaching.)

- What happens to the men in your church with preaching gifts? Where do they go to exercise their gift and bless their church family? (Somewhere else, that's where.) How do video venues develop future pastors and preachers? (This is closely related to the fact that most churches -- big and small -- more often than not hire from the outside. Across the board, we all suck at developing in-community "talent.")

Just some bullet points. I hope they are received in the spirit with which they are given: not as having it all figured out, but just as having some grave concerns. I am assuming common ground between all of us is that we want to see the fruitfulness of the Church and Christ glorified by it.

10 Things Good Pastors Say

1. Please forgive me.

Better than "I'm sorry," which can often be followed with an "if" or a "but," these words indicate a humble heart. Bad pastors hide their faults behind the cloak of their authority, practice self-defense against all charges, and basically pretend. Good pastors know they're sinners and admit it.

2. You're right.

Good pastors know they're not always (not usually?) the smartest, most "spiritual" person in the room. They are zealous to give credit and acknowledge achievement and intelligence, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it encourages and empowers others.

3. You're wrong.

Bad pastors chicken out when it comes to calling people on sin or biblical ignorance. Good pastors brave potential conflict and hurt feelings and say "You're wrong" in gentle but firm ways when necessary.

4. Jesus loves you.

Why did we stop saying this? I think because it became cliche. I'd love to see a recovery of the art of "Jesus loves you." Strategically said at times of others' admissions of failure, sin, or trouble, "Jesus loves you" is a fantastic way to speak the gospel into people's lives.

5. I love you.

I think one reason we stopped saying "Jesus loves you" to people is because we don't really love them ourselves. Might as well save the hypocrisy, eh? But good pastors lay their lives down for the sheep. Telling people you love them is a reminder to them and to you that sacrificial love is your calling.

6. Me too.

Next to "Grace is true" (see below), these might be the most important words in pastoral counseling. Bad pastors trade regularly in "Not me." In the pulpit and in the office, bad pastors set themselves apart from their congregations with tales of adventure, spirituality, and personal holiness. In the pulpit and in the office, good pastors talk of sin and trials and utter ineptitude and say, "Me too." I have seen entire countenances change when I've said some variation of "Me too."

7. Any time.

Of course you don't mean it literally. But you kinda do. Good pastors are available.

8. Thank you.

Bad pastors think they're owed. Good pastors know everything is a gift.

9. Grace is true.

I think deep down we all want to hear "You're approved" (see below), which is why we find "Grace is true" such a radical statement. You probably won't use the words, of course. But good pastors take the opportunity to glorify God by "talking up" his amazing grace every chance they get. Just 30 minutes ago, my writing of this post got interrupted by a visitor who wanted to talk about works and grace. I relished the chance to confirm his suspicion that grace is true. Bad pastors may say grace is true but the context of their teaching and the expectations in their leadership say "Your works must be this high to ride this ride." I know some of my friends hate it when "gospel" is used as a verb, but I just have to say it: Good pastors gospel their people. :-)

10. You're approved.

Everyone wants to believe they have what it takes, which is why it's such a bummer to hear the first half of the gospel and learn we really don't. Don't leave your people hanging. Be a good news pastor. Bad pastors beat their people up with their failures. Bad pastors are always disappointed. Good pastors know grace is true and Jesus is Lord, so they are ready to challenge every self-despairing soul with the wonderful truth that in Christ we are approved by God. Good pastors tell people they do have what it takes when they have Jesus' righteousness. Do you trust Jesus? You're all set, then.

Redeem Your Christmas Shopping!

My friends at Mosaic are making an offer you can't refuse! :-)

Buy a Necklace and Help Lift a Woman Out of Poverty

These recycled paper bead necklaces are crafted by women in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. The necklaces are rolled from long strips of colorful magazine pages, calendars, pamphlets, and cereal boxes. The beads are glued and lightly varnished with an acrylic based sealant. 100% of all profits return to fund women's programs (tailoring school, literacy education, anti-sex trafficking initiatives, micro-credit loans, and mosquito net distributions) in southern Sudan and northern Uganda.

Click the link for more details and pictures.

Sabbathless Christianity

This is often our invitation: "Come to Jesus and get to work."

This is Jesus' invitation: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Now, Jesus did call us to be fishers of men. And fishing can be hard work. There's a lot of preparation involved, a lot of considering of the conditions, constant positioning, setting the right lures or casting the net just right. But a lot of fishing is also just sitting there. Sometimes fishing just looks like doing nothin'.

If you'll forgive the plug, this is why the last words of my book Abide: Practicing the Rhythms of the Kingdom in a Consumer Culture (coming 2010 from Threads Media), following pages of material on spiritual disciplines, are "So relax." I'd kick myself if I just contributed one more work to the mass of work on discipleship that amounts to so much Christian busywork.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for Jesus is nothing -- because he doesn't need anything -- and most times the best thing you can be for him is still.

Be still, and know that I am God . . .
-- Psalm 46:10a

Six Flags Over Jesus

I am from Texas. I love Texas. I get Texas.

I lived half my life in Texas, grew up in Texas churches, ministered in 3 of them, accepted the gospel of Willow Creek (which is from Chicago but is Texas-sized) in one of them, and know full well what Jesus meant when he said a prophet is not accepted in his hometown.

Most every time I talk "church" with Texas folk who are still in Texas, the leading question is "How many are you running?" or "How big is your building?" It would be an exaggeration to say every conversation begins this way but it would not be an exaggeration to say most of them do. I have been in Tennessee for the last 12 years, and the Bible Belt is in full cinch there, along with its focus on bigger, better, and faster. Your church is not taken seriously by most in Nashville if you're not big. But nobody makes bigness the looming necessity that Texan evangelicals make it. In Nashville, the bigness is an unspoken rule while people are talking about small groups and spiritual formation and music, but in Texas they talk about bigness without apology, without any trace of irony, without any sense that it's utterly ridiculous to assume the church growth movement. Most of them don't know what irony is or what the "church growth movement" is. But they know what church is, and it's big, dang it. Or else you're not doing something right. Or, bless your little heart, you sure are giving it a go.

In Nashville, the people might think your small church is cute but in Houston they will tell you it is, as if this is a compliment and not a condescension. The second pastor I was a youth minister for planted his church in 1995 in Houston. He's been there 15 years now with a regular attendance of about 100 for the last decade, and our mutual friends consider this as "Hanging in there." As if 15 years of existence with 100 people constitutes the verge of death.

This isn't just a Texas problem, but it is a Texas-sized problem in evangelicalism. Enter First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas and their new $130 million building campaign. Normally I don't give one whit about how much a pastor is being paid or how much a church spends on whatever; I get my ire raised more by other things. And what FBC Dallas is doing doesn't really raise my ire. But it is reflective of something that, yes, is bigger than FBC Dallas, bigger than $130 million.

Do we even know what $130 million looks like? Well, we do, actually. It looks like this.

What is at stake is what church is. In the building Q&A linked above, we find this gem: "[T]he glass walls have an evangelistic effect: people walking by have a view in from the street and feel drawn in."

In the same way a hobo on the sidewalk might press his face against the window of a fancy restaurant in a Norman Rockwell painting, no doubt.

Nobody should fault FBC Dallas or anybody else for building a building. But this isn't a building. This, and a bunch of other stuff, is Bible Belt Disneyland. This is evangelicalism with more cowbell. This is Field of Dreams attractional church. And it stinks to high heaven. I was directed to a church website once while doing some research that had in its mission statement this sentence: "We will be a missional church, reaching out to the community to invite them to come see what we're doing at ___________."

Not go and tell.
Come and see is the "mission" of megachurchianity. Which is why you need evangelistic windows.

(Ever heard of Francis Chan? May his tribe increase.)

Why the Prosperity Gospel is Not a Joke

This is what the American Church is exporting to Africa.

Almost nine minutes long, but it's an important nine minutes.

The Prosperity Gospel from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

People will go to hell over this.

HT: Zach Nielsen

Birthday Musings

I turned 34 yesterday. I had a really good birthday. It was sweet of God to have it fall on a Sunday this year. I got up early Sunday morning and thanked him for that gift and then went on to teach on the atonement in our church's Foundations class, then preach a message on the 5 Sola's.

After the service, our church had a little birthday bash for me with the best chocolate cake I've had in years. I haven't had a birthday party in years either, so just when I thought I was too old for that stuff, it was cool to realize I wasn't. :-)

We went to the home of some very good friends for lunch and NFL watching. I didn't get to see the Titans game, but I consider their first win of the season just one more birthday present.

An even better birthday present was hearing from some relatively new Christians that they're about to take a major leap of faith in their lives that can only be explained by the transforming power of the gospel. Their news made my day.

I'm an introvert by nature, so socializing takes energy out of me, especially on Sundays after preaching, which makes me generally useless every Sunday afternoon. But I was thankful for the ability to enjoy fellowship most of Sunday, and it's especially a blessing to have friends with whom you can just be yourself. Late afternoon I went home and wrote for five hours, because my next book (Abide, coming from Threads Media in the Spring) was due yesterday. :-)

This is how I know I'm old: I put half of the birthday money I got from friends and family in savings and spent the other half on gloves, a sweater, and slippers. Next year I s'pose I'll spend it all on socks.

I am deeply satisfied with God right now. This despite some major "missing parts" in my life. (Those who know me know what these parts are.) God has been so good to Becky and me, and I am still on a high from the gospel awakening he worked in my life 3 years or so ago. I honestly have not been able to go very long each day without pondering the supremacy of Christ and the glorious riches of his grace, not in an intellectual way, although there's that too, but in a way that still stirs my heart. I really pray God never lets that stirring subside.

The only personally ambitious thing I wanted for my "career" was to have a book published by the time I was 33. I have wanted to be an author since I was 6 years old. I signed a contract for my first book last year at this time, mere weeks after my 33rd birthday. So I'm all set. The rest is gravy.

I try to think, speak, and write about the good news of Christ's finished work so often that if God should take me in a car wreck, a carjacking, or a cardiac arrest, the odds are good my parting thought should be the sweet mercy of Jesus.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go outside and smoke a cigar, which is something I wanted to do on my birthday but didn't have time for.
Blessings, blogosphere.

Happy Reformation Day!

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

It is the 492nd anniversary of the day an Augustinian monk nailed his pages of protest to the door of the church at Wittenburg. Or maybe he mailed them. Who knows. Either way, he threw a Malotov cocktail, and the fire still burns today.

“Faith therefore must be purely taught: namely, that thou art so entirely joined unto Christ, that He and thou art made as it were one person: so that thou mayest boldly say, I am now one with Christ, that is to say, Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine. And again, Christ may say, I am that sinner, that is, his sins and his death are Mine, because he is united and joined unto Me, and I unto him.”

- Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians

Thank you, Brother Martin. You help me see and cling to Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria

Christ Jesus, It is He!

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Words and Music by Martin Luther

1. A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevaling.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.

95 Theses for the American Church, Part 5: Purpose

5th and final day in an annual reprint in anticipation of Reformation Day.

On the Purpose of the Christian Life

77. The purpose of Christian worship is not momentary music but total submission to God and consecration for life.

78. The purpose of worshiping through music and the arts is not emotional reaction but the exaltation of God.

79. The purpose of preaching is not motivation but the proclamation of the gospel.

80. The purpose of teaching is not information but edification.

81. The purpose of evangelism is not recruitment but reconciliation.

82. The purpose of service and justice is not achieving or demonstrating righteousness but obeying Christ and demonstrating his righteousness.

83. The purpose of salvation is not self-improvement but resurrection.

84. The purpose of prayer is not accumulation but intimacy with God.

85. The purpose of ministry is not imparting knowledge or a spiritual impression but knowing and sharing Jesus Christ and him crucified.

86. The purpose of discipleship is not self-actualization but conformity to the will of God.

87. The purpose of the gifts of the Spirit is not self-fulfillment but the common good of the church.

88. The purpose of Scripture is not education but transformation.

89. The purpose of community is not fellowship but “follow-ship.”

90. The purpose of the pastorate is not impressing an audience but feeding the sheep.

91. The purpose of love is not reciprocation but the glory of God.

92. The purpose of grace is not vanity but the glory of God.

93. The purpose of the Church is not itself but the glory of God.

94. The purpose of the gospel is the glory of God.

95. The point of human existence is the glory of God.

Soli Deo Gloria