I love church planters and I love cutting edge, innovative ministry. I’m encouraged by the growth of a kind of Christianity that calls us back to the New Testament model of worship and ministry as we head into the turbulent waters of this next decade. But I’m concerned with what I perceive sometimes to be youthful arrogance, and this concern includes myself.
I’ve always been fascinated by this thought – Jesus is the Light of the world, and Jesus called US the light of the world. It’s a partnership. He’s the Light of the world in the sense that He brings salvation to the world. We’re the light of the world in the sense that we bring His salvation to the world around us.
Let me make this clear before you read any further, I love and appreciate John MacArthur. I have learned immensely from him and his level of biblical expertise is hard to match. He’s an inspiring leader for a variety of reasons. But his most recent blog post at the Shepherd’s Fellowship blog (which I do highly recommend) about TBN being an “Unholy Trinity” has me a little troubled.
Every month, our BMAA Missions Department sends us some updates by mail and this month, they included several pages of quotes concerning missions. I’ve selected some of my favorites to pass along…
You have one business on earth – to save souls. ~ John Wesley
The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become. ~ Henry Martyn
There is nothing in the world or the church – except the church’s disobedience to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility. ~ Robert Speer
We live in times of exponential change. The only constant is change itself, as they say. Watch this video for just a glimpse of what I mean…
So how should the church respond? I have some seemingly conflicted views on this, but I think they’re well worth taking to heart.
I often liken the development of social media to the invention of the printing press as far as its potential for impacting our culture, and I think we’ve only scratched the surface. Jay Caruso agrees and mentioned me in a pretty neat article about the value of social media, particularly Twitter where you can follow Jay if you’re a Twitter user.
If you’re unaware, social media has to do with spreading news (including the best news of all) through tribes and crowds of people using tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and a range of others. Jay and I (and many others) agree that while engagement in social media is not for everyone perhaps, someone within the church you attend needs to catch the vision for its impact. Thanks for the hat tip, Jay!
Tonight is VISION NIGHT at Bethel. That simply means I’m sharing my vision for Bethel in the year 2009 – what I believe God has placed on my heart as the leader of the congregation for us to emphasize and accomplish in the next twelve months or so. (I will post the audio later.) What I’m sharing will be the overflow of a lot of what I’ve been reading, studying, and praying about lately and what I shared at the BMAA Missions Symposium. And this, which was written in 1953 by an Episcopal priest named Theolore Wedel…
I find that I often think about Christianity, church leadership, and church growth in terms that are a bit different than my own traditions and background. So does Ed Stetzer and so does Dave Putman. It’s rare that I’m able to really articulate well my own feelings about what it means to live a redemptive lifestyle in a fallen culture.
One great example of this is that I often feel just a bit guilty when people ask why we don’t have an organized visitation program or an evangelism training program along the lines of Evangelism Explosion or FAITH. I had to dog-ear Ed’s thoughts about this:
Well, you missed it if you didn’t find us today at Pinnacel Hills Promenade. We had a lot of people donating wrapping materials, money (thanks to Sam’s Club), and time to allow us (Bethel Baptist Church) to offer free Christmas gift wrapping to shoppers, no strings attached… just bows!
It was a blessing – we had a good time and got to serve some people. We could not be overtly evangelistic, but we were able to build a few bridges with folks who wondered why we would not accept donations. One thing that really excites me is that it helps put us in the frame of mind that we simply ought to be serving in the name of Christ expecting nothing in return.
Well, that’s a wrap!
W. A. Criswell defined teaching (from the pulpit) as “instructing a man in the will and ways of the Lord,” and preaching as “seeking to drive a man’s will God-ward.” There is a raging debate today over how much freedom people really have. A renewed fascination with Calvinism has brought this debate to the forefront. I’m not opening the whole can of worms here – just this one point. Preaching should be directed to the will of a person. Decisions count.
If you carry Calvinism as far as many, you’ll begin to say that there is no free will or free agency with man. This morning I read from Spurgeon’s evening sermon from December 27th, 1874 called Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. Spurgeon never started a sermon softly. The second sentence declares “This every Christian minister must do if he would make full proof of his ministry, and if he would be clear of the blood of his hearers at the last great day.”
What Spurgeon said just moments later, however, issues a clarion call for addressing the will of our human hearers…
Remember, dear hearers, if the preacher does not push you to this–that you shall be converted, or he will know the reason why; if he does not drive you to this–that you shall either willfully reject, or cheerfully accept Christ, he has not yet known how rightly to handle the great ’sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’
We all do what we want every moment of the day. We make choices and decisions that impact eternity and preaching that does not appeal to the will of man fails to satisfy the expectations of the Great Commission. In case you wonder where I stand on the issue of God’s grace and His role in our salvation, I agree just as strongly with what Spurgeon said later in the same message:
The Lord alone must save you as a work of gratis mercy, not because you deserve it, but because he wills to do it to magnify his abundant love.
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The sovereignty of God is an ever-mysterious issue that we must struggle with and come to terms with as we seek to have an understanding of God’s role. Salvation is all of Him and not of us at all. But there is a receiving, an accepting of Him that must be decided in the human heart upon the call of one sent with the gospel.
Preach to change the mind. Preach to move the emotions. And preach to drive the will of man God-ward.
I'm a Christian, a Pastor to Bethel Baptist Church in Bentonville, Arkansas, a husband to Angie, a Dad to Ella, and I also enjoy graphic and web design. I'm a huge fan of Chick-fil-A and have a little dog named Beau!
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