Mission Forms Community

Matt Carter’s thoughts on missional community:

“What if, instead of the goal just being community, the goal became mission and through mission community was formed? When we aimed for just community, we rarely got community and we never got mission. But if we aimed for mission, we got mission and community formed out of that.”

Jonathan Dodson recently wrote a post on missional community that I found encouraging and convicting.

1. Building Missional Community Requires Stretched Grace
   Try to avoid making mission a new benchmark of religious performance. Instead, motivate people with grace: grace preached and grace embodied.
2.  Community Is What You Make of It
   Community isn’t an idea; it’s real people, awkward, struggling, weird, different, funny, slow, arrogant, sheepish, humble, curious, skeptical, excitable. You get the idea. Jesus didn’t die to make cliques. He died and rose to form diverse communities. . . . There’s nothing like pursuing difficult people, being loved by different people, and serving alongside a diverse people.
3. Labor for the Lord of Mission not the Fruit of Mission
   With all the missional hype, our faith can easily slip from trusting in the Lord of the harvest to trusting in the fruit of our labors. . . . Jesus is not only a model of missional endurance, he’s also the hope for missional endurance.

HT: Z

Keep your Hands off her Body

Great video:

HT: Z

On the Difference between Phony Religiosity and Real Faith

Eric Metaxas‘ speech at the National Prayer Breakfast is worth a listen. In it, he points out that true religion includes defending the helpless (aborted babies) and loving one’s enemies. Phony religion turns a blind eye to the plight of the helpless and evidences hatred toward one’s enemies.

You can find the speech at CSPAN (starts at minute 34).

Mark Joseph, for the National Review, compares the speech to President Obama’s address that immediately followed.

Joseph summarizes Metaxas’ strongest points:

Obama came to the prayer breakfast with a tidy speech that was clearly designed to lay those doubts to rest. He spoke of his daily habit of prayer and Bible reading, his regular conversations with preachers like T. D. Jakes and Joel Hunter, and even told a story of the time he prayed over Billy Graham.

But before the president could utter a word, it was Metaxas who delivered a devastating, albeit apparently unintentional critique of such God-talk, recounting his own religious upbringing which he described as culturally Christian yet simultaneously full of “phony religiosity.”

Metaxas’s most blistering attack, albeit sheathed carefully in good humor and rapier wit, was still to come, for next on his agenda was his careful but dogged determination to link previous attitudes among churchgoers toward slavery and Nazism with those of some present day churchgoers toward abortion. Surrounded by three of the most powerful supporters of the right to choose, Obama, Vice President Biden, and former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — two Catholics and a Protestant.

It wouldn’t hurt to listen to President Obama’s speech also (in it, Obama stated that he “found Christ when he wasn’t even looking for him”).

I pray that the President’s profession expresses a genuine reality (at last year’s NPB, Obama stated that he “embraced” Jesus as his “Lord and Savior” during his days as a community organizer – minutes 66-68).

If he truly does know Christ, I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict his heart about the issue of abortion, among other issues.

If the President does not know Christ, I pray that God will shine His light into his heart “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

HT: EK

Photos from ericmetaxas.com and barackobama.com

On Superheros and Status Updates

On Elephants, their Rooms, Modalism, and Racism

I’ve had several conversations about T.D. Jakes and the Elephant Room 2 in and out of the classroom. I don’t have time to write out my thoughts here, so I want to point you to several resources:

1. Justin Taylor summarizes the issues in a lengthy article entitled “The Elephant Room: What Really Happened, and How Things Could Have Been Different.” I essentially agree with his analysis about what happened at ER2. If you can only read one article on the subject, you should read his. As Taylor rightly points out, the complete absence of a discussion concerning the Prosperity Gospel that Jakes affirms is one of the most concerning elements in ER2.
2. Kevin DeYoung approaches the issue similarly to Taylor.
3. Mark Driscoll provides a decent guide on what Modalism is.
4. My pastor directed me to an article by Voddie Baucham discussing, most interestingly, the issue of racism involved in these recent events. On a related note, I listened to a Fresh Air interview with Baratunde Thurston that brings up similar points to Baucham’s concerning racism. Thurston speaks about what it means to be black in the US (not necessarily from a theological perspective).

Quote from Taylor:

With respect to the prosperity gospel, the idea is an over-realized eschatology—over-promising the end-time blessings in the here and now, with the implication that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy, as evidenced by material prosperity. (For a recent description and critique, see Health, Wealth & Happiness: Has the Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ?by David Jones and Russell Woodbridge.)

Whereas the old-school health-and-wealthers spent their time guaranteeing all of these benefits if you just had enough faith and shilling for donations, the newer generation of such teachers (represented by Jakes and Osteen and Myers) still focus inordinately on the earthly benefits ostensibly promised by God. This can be seen in many YouTube clips of Jakes preaching, but also as a theme in his writings.

But here’s the problem, as I see it: at the end of the day, we just don’t know precisely what [Jakes] believes. This should chasten both sides. For those who say “he’s still a full-fledged modalist”—I’m not sure. For those who are convinced “he has come out as an orthodox Trinitarian”—I’m not sure. As Trevin Wax points out, the proof will not be in whether Jakes can check a certain number of boxes, but in what he will teach his people.

Quote from Baucham:

…the racial overtones of this matter have gotten out of hand (see here, for example), and must be addressed.  The ER2 controversy is now pitting black evangelicals against white evangelicals, and against each other with T.D. Jakes as the centerpiece.  This is an opportunity to pull back the curtain on the awkward racial dynamic in evangelical circles.  Race is a convenient ‘dodge’ for those with weak arguments, and an inconvenient truth for those who harbor prejudice.  Beyond that, it is an absolutely confusing subject for myriad evangelicals who simply love Christ, love his church, and want desperately not to offend their brothers and sisters in the Lord by using “black” when they should have used “African American,” or vice versa!

The irony is that this issue is most pronounced when heterodoxy is in play.  For example, when a white evangelical disagrees with a solid, Reformed, black pastor on a technical theological issue, there is rarely a charge of racism.  However, let that black brother be part of a heterodox or heretical group (i.e., Oneness Pentecostalism, Word of Faith, Black Liberation Theology, etc.), and suddenly the white brother who makes the argument against him faces charges of racism!  Why?  Partly because of… RACISM!

You see, some of this boils down to what has sometimes been called, “the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.”  Asking black people to adopt orthodox theology (when Lord knows they don’t have access to the same schools, books, opportunities, and, in the minds of some… lack sufficient intelligence) is asking them to negate their blackness.  While, on the other hand, the solid, Reformed, well-educated black pastor is NOT REALLY BLACK.  Therefore, he’s fair game.  Irony of Ironies… that is racist!  And that’s what has to be dragged out of the shadows.

Stay Away from Jesus

Matt Papa is offering a song from his new album for free. The song is an amazingly bold song full of neglected biblical truth. Here are some of the lyrics:

You won’t ever hear this song on Christian radio
Cause the Jesus that I serve is not safe
He’ll say take Your cross and die
So if you want a comfy life
Stay away from Jesus

He says narrow is the gate and hard is the way
Hate the ones you love and love the ones you hate

Eat my flesh and drink my blood

But if your works are good enough

Stay away from Jesus

He says be either hot or cold,

you can’t serve God and gold

Indifference is the road that leads to hell


So if you’re happy in your stuff


and if 10%’s enough
Stay away from Jesus

He has also posted some insightful articles on music and worship on his blog (expressing some of the same thoughts I’ve had about pop Christian radio). I plan to spend some time reading more of them at a later date, but here are some of his more recent ones:

1. Meet the Golden Calf of Christian Radio

Christian radio, therefore, is for the most part an altar where chipper, inauthentic, boring, unscriptural, untruthful, gospel-absent, ear-tickling, man-centered songs offered to an idol named Becky.

2. An Appeal to Christian Radio and its Listeners

Mainstream christian radio is altogether banal and shallow in both a musical sense and a spiritual sense.  The songs are man-centered and the DJ’s and radio programmers are man-pleasers…..they play the songs that will attract the most listeners to their station, period.  Christian radio is like Joel Osteen in musical form….safe, happy, and untruthful.  It is the TBN of music…a large-scale, embarrassing presentation of Christianity to the world.

3. If there’s not Scripture in the Worship Set, Then it’s not Really a Worship Set

HT: Z

Foster Care: Adoption and Reconciliation

Last night, Michelle and I received the Decrees of Adoption for Tate and Jazzy. Needless to say, we are overjoyed.

• We praise God for giving two wretched, self-centered sinners the desire to love children in the foster care system.
• We praise God for the initial encouragement to pursue foster care from our good friends, Shean and Angie.
• We praise God for the continual support and love from family and friends.
• We praise God for the joyful examples set for us by members of our church.
• We praise God for the diligent training from and work by the Forsyth County DSS.

We involved ourselves in foster care with the main motivation of demonstrating the beauty of the Gospel to the children placed with us, to their families, to social workers, and to people watching us. We deeply desired to portray the Gospel by loving children who did not necessarily “deserve” our love as God loved and adopted us, sinners definitely undeserving of His love. I always viewed adoption, the final result in our case, as a picture of the Gospel, but never thought about the Gospel ramifications when foster care does not end in adoption (in our training, the DSS workers emphasized that the main purpose of foster care was reunification with the biological family).

Rob Tims wrote an excellent article on foster care from a Gospel-centered perspective. His family’s experience with foster care did not end as ours did. As he points out, foster care pictures the Gospel even when adoption is not the final result:

Reconciliation and adoption are equally powerful pictures of the Gospel.  One of the main reasons we were motivated to enter into the foster care system was because our efforts to adopt internationally were failing.  We were seeking to adopt internationally for a lot of reasons, but one of those is because of the way adoption communicates the Gospel. As Paul says in Ephesians 1:5, “In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”  Therefore, when the two girls we received had no parental contact for nearly 6 months, and the foster care review board twice recommended termination of parental rights, we were gearing up for a family-based proclamation of the Gospel through adoption.

Now, as the girls head home, our family is still proclaiming the Gospel, only through reconciliation instead of adoption.  In 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, Paul says that the good news of Jesus is a message of reconciliation.  Verses 18-19 are especially relevant. “(God) through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”  The girls we have had for the last 15 months have had a fractured relationship with their mother.  Rather than giving our family the ministry of adoption, God gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  We’ve been blessed to play a Christ-like role in reconciling these girls back to their mom and other extended family members, and that is an equally powerful proclamation of who Jesus is and what He’s done.  That’s why this next point is also true.

Please consider portraying the Gospel through foster care; whether it be through reconciliation or adoption. Tims continues:

The foster-care system in the United States is in real need of Gospel-centered families to infiltrate the system and take in hurting kids who need unconditional love.  Adoption is hugely popular is evangelical circles, but foster care less so.  Because the ministry of reconciliation is just as powerful as the ministry of adoption at communicating and living the Gospel, I would urge as many as I could to take the plunge into foster care.

I have a much better understanding of the risks and rewards of partnering with a pagan government to achieve Gospel-centered results, and my final analysis is this: get involved! Yes, it can and will be frustrating to work with an under-funded agency for something that matters so much.  It will break your heart to see the emotional and mental anguish in children as they are tugged between parents in rehabilitation and foster parents willing to adopt them.  It will shatter your concept of “ministry” to turn your home … your entire life … into the place where you “do it,” as opposed to an hour or so on Sunday or Wednesday.

HT: Z

Two Responses to “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” Video

The “Jesus > Religion” Video includes a few great points, but fails with others.

When I first saw the video I was tempted to post it here with a few cautions. I am strapped for time, but what others have said is sufficient.

Here is the video:

Here are the cautions:

From Jared Wilson

1. Some make a boogeyman out of the idea of “religious people,” by which it becomes clear what they mean is “traditional people” or the uncool. My feeling is that the Bible-thumping, starched suit-wearing, hellfire and brimstone religious people taking the fun out of fundamentalism are becoming fewer and farther between, while the church is brimming with self-righteous hipsters and cooler-than-thous. The Pharisees look like Vampire Weekend now. I’m not saying Jefferson is one of those guys; I’m just saying he’s offering them red meat.
2. The way the fellow in the video defines religion, he is right to hate it. But the more he goes on, the less justification he’s got for using the word religion. It’s not religion that does all those things. It’s not even the Law that does all those things. The Law is good! (See Romans 7:12, for instance, or 1 Timothy 1:18.) It’s self-righteousness that does all those things. Religion is not, as the fellow says, a man-made invention: legalism is. And even as the Scriptures tell us the harsh things the Law does, it never gives us license to hate it. So it’s not the Law or religion the Bible is against, but legalism and “self-made religion” (Colossians 2:23).
3. And the really controversial point we ought to make is this: Jesus did not hate religion. He was in fact a religious person.

From Jonathan Fitzgerald

Bethke doesn’t mean religion either, but he’s rehearsing a popular evangelical trope, that the freedom that Christians find through Jesus is freedom from structure, organization, and authority. Of course, Bethke, like all Christians, is a member of a religion. . . . What Bethke is actually railing against is people whose expression of religion doesn’t look like he believes it should. Thus, rather than discounting religion, he is just discounting other religions, or even just other manifestations of his own religion. . . . here Bethke is doing far more harm than good by playing into hurtful stereotypes about religion–his religion and mine, as well as the other major world religions. Denouncing this video takes stepping outside of evangelical subculture to see its actual implications beyond our little playground, but doing so, I think, is extremely important.

HT: JS

Grief and Joy on Christmas

My good friend, Mark Reed, lost his mother to a stroke on Christmas. He wrote about the experience on his blog.

He concludes:

The incarnation of Christ was my rock, my confidence, my peace, and my joy this year like never before.  My mother is face to face with her Savior because that Savior was born to live and die for her some 2000 years ago.  I pray that all of you had as good of a Christmas as I did this year!

Praise God for giving him the grace to write these words.

$10 Credit for e-Textbooks at Amazon

Amazon is offering a $10 credit for textbooks on Kindle (good thru Jan 9).

I scored Against Atheism: Why Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris Are Fundamentally Wrong for free.

If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a Kindle App for your Mac, PC, or iDevice that allows you to read electronic books.

HT: FW