Church

The Sweetness and Sacredness of Sundays

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

[This post is from our monthly newsletter at Calvary Baptist Church (Seymour, Indiana)].

When God created the heavens and the earth, he spoke light into existence and separated it from the darkness.  On the first day, he called the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.”  From the start, God’s world has run on a schedule.  Like a watchmaker, God spun the earth so that every revolution would take twenty-four hours, and every year would include 365 days, plus six hours.  It seems that in Genesis 1, God’s creation modeled the pattern that men would keep in all generations—six days of labor, one day of rest.

The rest of the Bible depends on this basic structure to frame all that God does with men.  In Exodus 20, God commands Israel to keep the Sabbath holy, saying “On it you shall not do any work, . . . for in the six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Now, this command to rest was not a call to inactivity or sluggishness.  Rather, it was a call to make time a servant to men, a means by which men would learn to trust the Lord with their time and to know that they needed something more than they could acquire in their weekly schedules.

Since God did not rest because of fatigue, the Sabbath was not just a means of physical recovery for him, or for us.  It had a more Christ-centered purpose.  In fact, it seems that the Sabbath was a gift of joy and fellowship with God.  In other words, it was a holy day of worship, a day to set aside creation and to enjoy the creator. In a world unaffected by sin, this day off would have been needed, but how much more in a world wrought with sin and its effects?!

This was true in the Old Testament, and it is true today.  Only, since Christ’s advent, the meaning and application of the Sabbath has changed to the Lord’s Day.   Thus, as we make application, let us consider three things.

First, the Sabbath day in creation and Israel is a type of Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and he is the true rest.  Paul calls the Sabbath of Jesus’s substance (Col 2:16-17).  The meaning of this is that in Christ, we who are tempted to work in order to gain security, identity, and standing before God (and men) can now look unto Christ for all three.  In him, we have rest full and free.

Second, Sabbath Day worship has been replaced by Lord’s Day worship. After the resurrection, the New Testament church gathered on the Lord’s Day—the day of his resurrection (Sunday).  Thus, when we gather this Sunday, we announce to the world that Christ is risen and reigning. We do not gather on Sunday because it is the most convenient day for our church; we gather on Sunday because it tells the world that on this day Jesus Christ rose and is now present with us. Just the same, when someone makes a preferential choice to skip church they muffle the testimony of the Lord’s resurrection.

Third, the Lord’s Day is a gift of grace. Sadly, too many Christians obscure the grace of this gift.  The Lord’s Day is not simply a day to recuperate from work in order to return to work.  Your life is more than your vocation!   And it is more than just getting to the next vacation.  The Lord’s Day keeps this in perspective.

Instead of providing physical rest alone, the Lord’s day provides living water for the weary heart. It is a day devoted to the reading, singing, preaching, praying, and discussing of God’s Living Word. If you live on God’s word and not man’s bread, what could be a better gift to you than the promise that for hours this coming Sunday a banqueting feast of God’s word will be prepared before you.

The gift of the Lord’s Day is not merely a reprieve from the world, though it is that; it is a promise that God still speaks.  In a true church that faithfully proclaims the gospel, those who come to hear his voice will never go away disappointed.  This is the grace we need to keep our hearts strong; this is the grace for which your heart longs.  For those who desire God’s grace, gathering with God’s people on the Lord’s Day is a necessary part of life.  It is a day filled with grace for those who are willing to seek it.

Over the next few newsletters, I am going to consider a number of blessings that God gives us on the Lord’s Day and that come from attending church for the right reasons. I hope you will consider these points with me, and that you would share them with the ones who “know the Lord” but who prefer not to worship him in public Sunday by Sunday.  Perhaps together, we can encourage them to taste and see the sweetness and sacredness of Sundays.

For His Glory and your joy,

Pastor David

To Be Eaten By Worms or Cannibals: In the Resurrection It Doesn’t Matter

/ davidsschrock

A number of years ago I was introduced to John Paton through the biographical sermon of John Piper on Paton, “You Will Be Eaten By Cannibals: Life Lessons from John Paton.” In that sermon, Piper records a conversation that Paton has with an elderly man in his church that is at the same time humorous and inspiring.  In response to the concern expressed by Mr. Dickson that Paton, if he leaves his post in Edinburgh, Scotland to go to the South Seas, will be eaten by cannibals, Paton plainly states.

Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer (From Paton’s biography John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebredes,An Autobiography Edited by His Brother [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, orig. 1889, 1891], 56)

Might God grant the same kind of bravado to a younger generations of missionaries, myself included.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Five Questions on Discipleship: (5) Why Should You Make Disciples?

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Thus far we have asked four questions about discipleship: (1) What Did Jesus Do?  (2)  What is a disciple? (3) Who makes disciples?  And (4) How do you make disciples?

Today we finish by simply asking the question, Why?  Why should you make disciples?  Let me give five answers that will serve as great motivation for stepping out in faith to make disciples.

First, It is disobedient to ignore this command (Matt 28:19).  The Great Commission is for every born-again believer in Jesus Christ. To ignore this command is to ignore the heart of Jesus. Making disciples is not an optional aspect of the Christian life for a select group of Christians.  It is part and parcel of every Christian’s calling.  Some may be more gifted at it than others, but all are called to be participants.

Second, the presence of God is found in it (Matthew 28:20).  The promise of God’s nearness is not found in your daily devotion or in a cabin retreat. It is found in the ministry of making disciples.  While such personal times of reflection are sweet, God’s word promises more emphatically his presence when we are laboring with him in finding, winning, and growing the sheep that Christ has purchased with his own blood.

Third, the promise of success is given in this task. (Matthew 16:18).  Disciple-making is guaranteed to work.  Sure, there will be many who you meet and minister to whom may fall away.  However, there will be others who will have their place marked out in heaven because of your willingness to serve.  You cannot save anyone, but God has chosen to use means (you and me) to build up his church.  And like the Father’s promise to the Son that his death would effect the salvation of his children, so we are given the promise that our labors will not be in vain (1 Cor 15:58).  The word of God never returns void, God has guaranteed that his church will be built, and he has shown us that this building comes through disciple-making.

Fourth, your greatest Christian joy will be had in disciple-making (1 Thess 2:19-20).  Just ask Paul.  His glory and joy were found in the men and women that he won to Christ and established in the faith.  His greatest anxiety was seeing disciples he had invested in turn from Christ.  Truly, if you are a Christian, this will be the source of your greatest joy, too.  The treasure you are to lay up in heaven is people–those whom you lead to the Lord and help along the way will be your greatest joy.

Fifth, churches grow as we make disciples.  The truth is, only disciple-making guarantees church growth.  The one “product” that the church should be producing is disciples.  Just read John 15:1-8.  When the church abides in the Word of God (i. e. the gospel) and the gospel permeates that church, disciples will be born unto the glory of God.

All other activities must be subservient to this main purpose. Therefore, block parties, special events, Power Team performances, and movies may draw a crowd, but they do not make disciples.  Children’s programming, bus ministries, friend days will get people in our building, but they will not make disciples. A cool website, newspaper ads, and yard signs will announce a church’s presence,  but none of these things guarantee disciple-making.  All of these events must be linked up with slower, more intentional process of life-on-life discipleship.

What This Means

If you commit to making disciples, you are committing to doing church in a more simple fashion.  While many programs and activities may be going on at your church, only one thing is necessary–Jesus Christ and the preaching of his gospel in the context of loving relationships that are growing disciples.

Similarly, if you commit to making disciples, you are committing yourself to slow growth.  If you want an instant helper in the home, buy a robot.  Don’t have a baby.  Children take time to rear, but in the end there is great reward in seeing a baby become a boy become a man, one who receives and lives out all the priorities you instill in him.  So it is with making disciple-making.  While it takes time and comes with seasons of pain, slow growth in pouring your life (with the gospel) into the life of another will be impact disciples in ways programs cannot.

Finally, if you commit to making disciples, people may wonder what you are doing to grow the church.  After all, the point of church growth is larger numbers, right?  It is true that numbers do provide a means of measuring the ministry, but perhaps we should find a quotient that divides the number of believers by the time that they stay and grow.  Of course, this sort of metric is impossible, but in our discussions about numbers, we should add to the conversation not only how many converts are won to Christ, but how many of those converts are grown up to be soul-winners themselves.  Or to use more biblical terminology, how many of the disciples made in your ministry are reproducing themselves?

May we continue to let the Great Commission ring in our ears and reverberated in our hearts, so that disciple-making becomes a central feature of our personal lives and church ministries.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (4) How Do You Make Disciples?

/ davidsschrock

As a sophomore in college, I was introduced to a little book called The Master Plan of Evangelism. After an eight week study with our Campus Crusade leadership team, I was convinced that Jesus’ pattern of disciple-making and spiritual multiplication is the way to do ministry.  More than ten years later I am still convinced.

In his book, Robert Coleman outlines eight steps for making disciples: Selection, Associatin, Consecration, Impartation, Demonstration, Delegation, Supervision, and Reproduction).  If you have not read Coleman’s insightful little book, get it today.  All the hype about The Trellis and The Vine a few years ago was simply a helpful reformulation of The Master Plan of Evangelism.

And Coleman is not alone in looking to Jesus for methods of disciple-making.  More than one-hundred years ago Scottish pastor and professor A.B. Bruce wrote the lengthy treatment The Training of the Twelve, in which he scoured the pages of Scripture to see how Jesus trained his disciples and this is what he had to say,

These twelve . . . were to be something more than travelling companions or menial servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were to be . . . students of Christian doctrine, and occasional fellow-laborers in the work of the kingdom, and eventually Christ’s chosen trained agents for propagating the faith after He Himself had left the earth.  From the time of their being chosen . . . they were to learn, in the privacy of intimated daily fellowship with their Master, what they should be, do, believe, and teach, as His training of these men was to be a constant and prominent part of Christ’s personal work (p. 30).

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, how should we make disciples? Let me suggest three commitments that are required for being a disciple-maker.

FIRST, MAKE A DECISION

You cannot invest in everyone, so you need categories for making decisions on how you will use your precious, limited time. While you should never reject anyone in need, when it comes to making disciples, you should prioritize those who Faithful, Available, Teachable–otherwise known as FAT people.

Faithful.  Paul instructed his faithful disciple to find faithful disciples.  In 2 Tim 2:2, Paul said, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  With great wisdom, Paul did not say, “Go chase down the sheep that are running away.”  He told Timothy to invest his life in “faithful men” who are able to reproduce themselves.  As you focus on the faithful, the fleeing will be found.

So too Jesus was selective in his disciple relationships (Mark 3:13-19). While we should love everyone, we should be strategic in the way we reach out to others.  If you are making disciples, you will have closer relationships with some and not others.  Look for the faithful ones!  Be a faithful one.

Available.  There are lots of sincere people who have good intentions to know God, but when push comes to shove, there are very few who are available.  Many start off strong, but the weeds of the world enslave them.  Busyness erodes faithfulness, and their schedules limit availability.  But a good disciple is one who is not enslaved to sports, family, work, school, hobbies, or sleep.  They may be deeply invested in these things–and should be–but they are carving out time and making themselves available.

Focus on those who available more than those who are able.  Take a lesson from Jesus.  He did not choose the powerful, well-off, or important people.  He invested in those who heeded his call.  He discipled those who would follow him.  One way to test this is to call people to hard tasks.  Don’t lower the bar on discipleship.  Like Jesus, make the call challenging and see who is left.  These are the ones to disciple.

Teachable.  In Matthew 7, Jesus warns us of throwing pearls before pigs.  This strange statement is essential for understanding disciple-making.  You have a short span of life.  Use it well.  Invest your time and energy well.  Don’t throw your energy at those who are unwilling to be taught.  Focuse on those who are submissive to God’s word.  Christopher Adsit, founder of Disciple-Makers International, is helpful: “Most of us are poverty-stricken when it comes to time. It’s a foolish extravagance to squander precious time teaching a person something he will never apply or pass on! It’s pearls before swine.”

SECOND, DISCIPLE WITH TIME, TRUTH, AND TRAINING

There is no substitution for just getting out and doing the work, but as you disciple be sure to include three key elements.

Time.  Discipleship is not complicated.  It is time-consuming, but not complicated.  Do life with other, younger believers in Christ.  Invite them into your home, into your families.  And as you walk through life talk about Christ.  Ask questions about God.  Read the Bible.  Pray.  Discuss a book together.  Serve together.

Truth.   Discipleship is only Christian in as much as the gospel is present.  Christians spending time together is not discipleship.  It must have intentionality, and more than that it must be infused with biblical truth.  It can look like a regimented Bible study, a weekly time of Bible reading and discussion, or bi-monthly commitment to do evangelism.  It can also be less formal.  But whatever it is, it must center around Jesus Christ.

This is what Jesus did.  With a band of disciples, he preached, ministered, and made his way in and order Palestine all the while teaching his disciples about what he was doing.  Paul did the same thing.  Everywhere he went, he was taking Timothy, Titus, Silas, or other young men.  He gave them a model to follow and truth to learn.

Johnny Hunt is right when he says that every Christian needs a Paul, Timothy, and a Barnaba—a Paul to disciple us, a Timothy to disciple, and a Barnabas to encourage us. Personally, I consider it a failure, if I am doing ministry by myself.  I want to do everything with someone else, because I want to pass what I have learned to others.

Training.  Truth revolves around the gospel.  Training revolves around practical applications of ministry.  In church contexts, this means older men and women teaching younger men and women, respectively, the skills of ministry.  This could look like learning how to drive the bus route, preparing a funeral meal, teaching a Sunday School lesson, sharing the gospel, or planning a mission trip.

Every person in a ministry position should be looking and preparing there replacement.  Passing the baton is a necessary part of ministry.  The alternative is a latent self-centeredness that places all the weight of ministry on an individual.  When that individual leaves, dies, or moves, the work of that ministry goes with them.  By contrast, leader who trains another generation prolongs the work of the Lord for the edification of the local body of believers.

But this raises a serious question: Are you worthy of imitation? Paul constantly pointed to himself as a one who sought Christ, and he said, as he followed Christ, you could follow him.  Can you say the same thing?  Disciple-makers must first be genuine and growing disciples.  If you cannot call someone to imitate you why not?  What would it take to become a model disciple?  What is keeping you from growing in that way?

Do not be Charles Barkley Christian, who denied his role as a role model. If you are a Christian, you are a role model.  If you have taken the name of Jesus Christ, you are now one of his witnesses.  Witness him well.

Help those who come behind you by giving time, truth, and training.

THIRD, MODEL BEFORE AND MEASURE AFTERWARD

Modeled Demonstration.  When Jesus called the twelve, he called them to be with him.  Long before sending them out, he called them simply to follow, listen, learn.  They observed their Master in action, and when it was their time to lead they had years of experience to learn from.  Jesus was the model.  So too commanding others to do something, you should show them how.  And not just once–many times.

I was in conversation the other day with a family who after their conversion was immediately thrown into ministry.  Sadly, today they are having to pull back from ministry to retool their personal lives. Why?  They were too hastily thrown into ministry.  We need to be slower to commission, and quicker to model.  As church leaders we need to avoid the gap theory, where we see a gap and find a guy or gal to fill it.  Instead, we need to be people oriented, putting good people in places, instead of simply finding a warm body to fill a need.

Measured Delegation.  Following demonstration, Jesus’s disciples were called to action.  In his presence, the disciples were enlisted to baptize, they were sent out two-by-two, they were given errands.  In Jesus presence, the disciples tried and failed.  He gave them tasks and missions, that he could then use to teach and correct them.  This is wise strategy for parenting, pastoring, and for disciple-making.

It requires more than barking orders.  It requires that you know those whom you are giving spiritual leadership—their gifts, passions, abilities, and readiness.  It also means that we should be modeling for others everything we expect them to do.  Too often we move straight from instruction to delegation, without demonstration and supervised evaluation.

The result of activity without evaluation is a generation of workers who do more harm than good.  Imagine a surgical doctor given all the tools of the trade without years of residency.  The same is true with soul doctors, disciples, who are called to encourage and edify other Christians.  Just as doctors need training and correction in their surgical techniques, so disciples need the loving, hope-giving, correction of older Christians to help them grow into Sunday School teachers, small group leaders, outreach coordinators, and deacons.

All in all, the Great Commission is a vision for church ministry that never grows old.  It calls us to simply make disciples.  This is goal worthy of our entire attention, and it is a process that takes years to develop.  May we consider some of these priorities listed above, and go forward looking to find disciples who are FAT, with whom we can share life and the gospel, and who are willing to observe and receive correction as they become disciple-makers themselves.

May God give us great aid as we seek to make disciples, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (3) Who Makes Disciples?

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

Yesterday we considered what a disciple is, today we answer the question: Who Makes Disciples?  And I would suggest that there are two ways to answer that question.  First, churches make disciples; second, mature believers make disciples.  Let’s consider.

Churches Make Disciples

At the institutional level, God has created the church to be a disciple-making community.  This is not to say that parachurches, camps, publishing houses, or Christian radio cannot be involved in the process, but in his wisdom, the church is the ordained means of defending the gospel, proclaiming salvation, and making disciples (Eph 3).

Accordingly, churches would be served by asking: If Jesus came today and evaluated our church, on what would he evaluate?  What are his expectations?  I think the answer and expectation is simple.  Jesus would inquire “What are you doing to make disciples?”  I don’t think he is very impressed with all sorts of activities, fellowships, and programs that make us busy but fail to make disciples.  He has not called us to be active, but to be active in making disciples.  Since Christ is in the business of making disciples, that is what he expects of us.

God’s word on this is clear.  As the body of Christ, we are to be the hands, feet, mouthpieces of our Lord.  Accordingly, if God is going to make disciples in this age, it is through the church, by his Spirit.  If his greatest passion is to see the lost converted into disciples, then he expects that his body would be about the same work.  The Great Commission is the explicit statement of this truth. “Go into all the world and make disciples.”   Churches that excel in ministry but do not excel in making gospel-centered, word-saturated disciples who are able to reproduce themselves are not excelling as much as their numbers might indicate.

Big or small, churches are called to make disciples.  That is the first level.

Mature Believers

At the individual level, it is mature believers that make disciples. As in life, mature adults have babies, so adult Christians “give birth” (or rather, serve as attending nurses to the birth from above) to new Christians.  While young Christians, infants in the Lord, can and do witness with great zeal and effectiveness, it is mature believers who are in a position to “disciple” newborn Christians.

The Great Commission includes a call to teach all that the Lord has instructed.  New believers rarely know all there is in Scripture, or how to apply it.  This is why Scripture repeatedly demonstrates older believers mentoring or discipling younger believers (think of Paul with Timothy, Titus, and Silas, or Barnabas with Paul or John Mark).  Titus 2 gives clear instruction that older women are to teach younger women, and older men are to be models for younger men.

Thus, all disciples should strive for maturity such that they can disciple others.  This is not an optional calling, this is part and parcel of being a growing disciple.  Sadly, as Hebrews 5 laments, many who should be teachers are in need of learning the elementary truths again.

As a way of evaluation, we can say that mature believers are those who exhibit Christlike character and who are able and actually discipling younger believers.  Discipling others shows Christian love, an understanding of God’s purposes in the world, and a self-sacrificing, others-centeredness that behooves a mature believer.  By contrast, maturity should not be measured by the number of years a person has gone to church or even by how many studies they have led, how many committees they have chaired, or even by the number of Bible certificates or degrees they hold. Maturity is measured by ones personal Christlikeness and their reproduction.

May God continue to raise up disciple-makers in this generation, that more and more disciples would be born, raised, and sent out.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (2) What Is a Disciple?

/ davidsschrock

Answering the question “What is a disciple?” is not as easy as it might first appear.

First, there is a shift in the meaning of the term disciple from the gospels to the book of Acts.  For instance, in John 6, many of Jesus’ “disciples” leave him.  These are the ones who follow him to hear his teaching and to eat his bread, but when he calls them to eat his flesh and drink his blood, they can go no further.  In this situation, disciples are simply those who followed and learned from him, but were not saved by him.  Likewise, you could say of Judas, that he was a disciple in one sense (he followed and learned from Jesus), but not a disciple in another sense (he failed to follow Christ until the end and he betrayed his master).  Thus, in the Scriptures themselves, there is some ambiguity in the term.

Why does this matter?  Well, the other day, I heard a radio preacher stating that the disciples in the Bible are just like us.  Yes and no.  There is much similarity between the followers of Jesus in his day, and in genuine believers today.  However, there is dissimilarity too.  Few are called to leave their fishing nets behind to become Christ’s disciples and none are called to to follow a wandering Nazarene through the hills of Israel.  Likewise, at a more doctrinal level, many of the followers of Jesus did not abide in him, and thus were not saved (cf John 6:66).  But this reality should not form the basis of our doctrine of discipleship.  True disciples today are those who are born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and will not fall away because through the Spirit and the Word, God will preserve them even as they persevere in faith.

That is the first qualification, but there is another. In popular Christianity, there interpretations of discipleship.  Perhaps two of the most helpful explanations of discipleship today to explicate these differences are Michael Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship and Jonathan Lunde, Following Jesus The Servant King: A Biblical Theology of Covenantal Discipleship.  Gleaning from their observations, I would posit a few ways that disciples are defined today.

(1) Disciples are COMMITTED believers.  Salvation is one thing, discipleship is another.  There are Christians and then there are disciples.  This posits a two-tiered system in the Christian life–with the saved and the sanctified.  The problem with this is that it rips apart the unified work of salvation, and it does not fit with biblical language.  In Acts 4:32, the church is described as a band of believers; but Acts 6:2 describes the church as “the full number of disciples.”  Disciples are believers; believers are disciple.  No tiers!

(2) Disciples are ministers.  Like the twelve, disciples are called to a special ministry of service.  This results in a view where churches  have clergy and laity, disciples and congregants.  This separation is often found in special dress for the clergy, or unhealthy veneration of church leaders.  By contrast, the Great Commission calls all people to discipleship and to disciple others.  Church work is for everyone.  Disciples are ministers, but if I am reading Ephesians 4 correctly, we are all called to various roles of ministry in the church.  Christianity is not a spectator sport.  Jesus calls us to join him in the work.

(3) Disciples are Christians.  Christians are disciples.  While we are at different phases in our journey with Christ, Christianity is not two-tiered, any more than your families are two-tiered.  While wisdom cautions against young disciples leading, there is no two-stage approach.  Rather, as in any family, there are babes, children, young adults, and mature adults.  The same is true in the church, and every age are called disciples.

A Definition of Discipleship

In light of these previous observations, here is an attempt at a definition: A disciple is a man or woman who is a new creation in Christ that no longer lives for self, but who has (a) believed on Christ for the forgiveness of sins, (b) possesses eternal life, and (c) lives to learn, follow, and imitate Christ in all areas of life.

To say it another way, if we take our cues from the Great Commission: (a) Disciples identify themselves with Jesus Christ in baptism; (b) Disciples learn AND practice all the words of God has given us; and (c) Disciples serve our Lord, going into the world to herald the message of Christ and to reproduce disciples.  This is the Great Commission.  This is what the twelve did, this is what Paul did (Acts 14:21), and this is what Paul called his followers to do (2 Tim 2:2).

Another place to get our bearings for defining a disciple is Mark 3:13-19.  There we find that discipleship goes all the way back to Jesus, and that three things stand out.  Those whom he calls to be disciples (and apostles– a calling that makes the twelves position different than our own), he gives three requirements:  First, the twelve are to be with him so that they might learn from Jesus, copying him, imitating him;  Second, the twelve are sent to preach.  So they are not passive learners but active servants.  Third, the twelve were given authority to cast out demons as is witnessed in the Gospels and Acts.

Now, on this last point, we may think that this is only for them, after all we do not cast out demons.  But I would suggest, that the calling we have to win souls and to nurture them in the grace and truth of the gospel is even greater than the commission given in Mark 3.  Just listen to John 20:23:  “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  In the gospel, we have been given authority to declare forgiveness and eternal life.  We are not simply casting out demons, we are calling men to eternal life, and by God’s design, the effectual call that converts a man is conveyed through the general call of God’s human witnesses.

Thus, according to Mark 3–if we can use this text in any sort of prescriptive way–Scripture shows that disciples are those who are with Jesus, who serve at Jesus commission, and who are involved in Christ’s ministry of making other disciples. Certainly, more can and should be said, but this is a start.

Tomorrow, we will consider in more detail who is able to make disciples.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Gossip More: Because Gossiping Less Never Works

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

[This article was originally featured in our hometown newspaper, The Seymour Tribune].

Gossip.  It is a common disease—easily contracted, hard to cure.  Yet, the surprising solution is not to gossip less.  Just the opposite: You need to gossip more.

Let me explain.

You were made to gossip.  God gave you speech and a heart curiously intrigued by other people.  How else could talk radio, talk shows, and talking heads be so popular?  They scratch a human itch—the desire to be in the know and to talk with Gnostic wisdom about someone or something.

There is a kind of pleasure that comes from hearing something known to a select few.  We love secrets, and gossip is the pipeline for passing them, though every carbon copy erodes the secret.  Therefore, we want more.

Now, in steps the religious professional who says: The Bible condemns idle talk and God hates gossip.  Therefore, stop!  His premises are right.  God does condemn idle talk and hates any speech that tears down another.  However, knowing the law never changed anyone.

No, pernicious gossip that plagues the human race does not need to reduced or discontinued; it needs to be converted!  It needs a new object, a new secret to keep and then divulge.

Enter the gospel of grace. Nothing is more hidden and revealing than God.  No person is more intriguing than Jesus.  No secret is more fascinating than the news that sinners condemned to death have been declared innocent, set free, and rewarded because another has volunteered to take their place on the electric chair.

Indeed, evangelism is simply gossip about Jesus.  This is what happened in Samaria (John 4).  Jesus, a man of marriageable age, conversed with the town’s loosest woman at the local watering hole.  Talk about gossip!  This conversation surely evoked a few whispers.  Even more, when the woman raced off to tell her town about the man Jesus Christ, she participated in God-ordained gossip.

The result was amazing.  The whole curious town lined up to hear Jesus.  And many were saved.

Here is the point:  If you want to stop gossiping about things that will pollute your mind and shrink your soul, start gossiping about Jesus and the scandalous grace that he offers.  This will mean that you need to know him, but that is what he loves to share with all those who come curious about his secrets.

This week, don’t gossip less.  Gossip more about the only one worthy of such gossip!

Via Emmaus: A Christ-Centered Walk Through the Bible

/ davidsschrock

Yesterday, The Gospel Coalition ran an article on how to teach through the whole counsel of Scripture in a year.  It was something that I wrote based on the things I learned when our church walked through the Bible together in 2010.  For those who are interested in what those lessons looked like, here are the lessons I shared with our people each week.

Introduction: An Overview of the Bible

Pentateuch
Genesis 1-11: The Beginning of It All
Genesis 12-50: Four Families Under the Faithfulness of God
Exodus 1-15: Salvation Through Substitution & Conquest
Exodus 16-40: Moving Into the Presence of God 
Leviticus: Sinners in the Presence of a Holy God
Numbers: In the Wilderness
Deuteronomy: God’s Royal Covenant with Israel

History
Joshua: Into the Land
Judges: A People in Need of a King
Ruth: A Painful & Pleasant Providence
1 Samuel: The Good, The Bad, and the Ruddy
2 Samuel: The Rise and Fall of King David
1 Kings: Redemptive History is a Royal Mess–Part 1
2 Kings: Redemptive History is a Royal Mess–Part 2
Ezra: Return, Rebuild, Renew, Repent
Nehemiah: Rebuilding God’s City and Reforming God’s People 
Esther: Seed Warfare

Wisdom
Job: Knowing God In The Crucible Of Satanic Suffering
Psalms: Redemption in the Key of D(avid)
Proverbs: Wisdom is the Way to the Obedient Son
Ecclesiastes: To Work Wisely is Futile, To Fear Faithfully is Wise
Song of Songs: More Than Just an Old Fashioned Love Song

Prophets
The Prophets (1): Hearing the Spirit of Christ in the Days of Elijah
The Prophets (2): Putting the Prophets in their Place: Before the Exile
The Prophets (3): Putting the Prophets in their Place: During and After the Exile
Isaiah: The Servant-King Will Lead His People Into a New Creation
Jeremiah: A New Heart For An Idolatrous People
Ezekiel: That You Might Know the Lord
Daniel: Keep the Faith! The Sovereign LORD Reigns In History
The Twelve: Judgment and Salvation is a Major Theme in the Minor Prophets

Gospels-Acts
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom
Mark: Seeing the Christ of the Cross
Luke: The Messiah Must Go To Mount Zion
Acts: Taking the Gospel From Zion to Zimbabwe
John: Jesus, The Son of God, The Messiah of Israel, and The Savior of the World

The Letters and Revelation
Paul (1): The Apostle to the Gentiles
Paul (2): The Prison Epistles and Philemon
Hebrews: Believe and Draw Near, For Jesus Christ is Greater Still
General Epistles: James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude
Revelation: The Revelation of Jesus Christ

A Biblical Theology of Business (and Church Growth)

/ davidsschrock

A few weeks ago I came across this video from the Gospel & Culture conference in NYC.  It features Jeff Van Duzer, dean of the business school at Seattle Pacific University giving a message entitled, “A Theology of Business.”

I have watched it a few times now and gleaned much.  It it is a great biblical-theological treatment of business that grounds itself in the four-fold movement of redemption history–Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation.

However, it is more than just a good presentation for businessmen who want to follow in the footsteps of Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-a.  It is a good paradigm for church leaders and churches to apply to the local church.  Usually, I am slow to make such claims because I think too many popular business practices have shaped churches.  Too little attention has been given to what the Bible says.  (Yes, I have drunk the punch served by 9Marks).

This is where Jeff Van Duzer is different.  He builds with the Scriptures and he gives a good model for business and for those doing God’s business in the local church.  Tonight our church leaders are going to watch the video and discuss.  I encourage you to do the same.  Spend an hour thinking through Van Duzer’s main points, and how, if they were implemented in your business, Bible college, or area of ministry, they would glorify God by producing good fruit.

If it helps here are a number of questions to consider

  1. What does Jeff Van Duzer critique?
  2. Some people say business is bad, others that it is good, even messianic.  What is wrong with these polarities?
  3. I would propose that his comments about “business” could easily be translated to “church growth.”  What is church growth?  And what should we think about it?
  4. He speaks of two issues: The PURPOSE and PRACTICE of business.  What are the two purposes for business that he mentions?  How do these contrasting visions of business relate to Mark 10:44-45?
  5. According to Jeff Van Duzer, should profit be the means or the end?  Translating to the church, should “numbers” be an end or a means?  What does it mean that numbers are a means in the church?
  6. In the church, who are the “shareholders”?  Who are the “customers”?  Who should we serve? Who are we serving?
  7. Using his illustration of blood circulation, what does a church that only circulates blood look like or do?  What characteristics does it have?
  8. What does a living and healthy church have?  What are the metrics of a healthy church?
  9. When leaders make decisions, Van Duzer says that they ask one of two questions:         (a) Which of these choices will maximize my return or investment?  Or, (b) Given our core competencies, how can we best employ them to serve others.  When we make decisions in the church, which are we asking? 
  10. When we make decisions are we making them to (a) increase our numbers or (b) increase our faithfulness?  Do we trust that if we focus on being “boringly biblical” that God will bless our church?  Or do we need to add to the message?
  11. Using the illustration of levies, Van Duzer speaks of limitations on pursuing capitol.  What limits do we have / should we have in our ministries?  Can we do anything or are their delimiting factors?  What are they?
  12. What in our day and age do we need to guard against?   What temptations do churches face who want to grow?
  13. What was the difference between the Gold Medal and Silver Medal companies surveyed by Jim Collins?
  14. What should a mission of the church include?

Now, go do God’s business (John 15:1-8).

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

 

Reflections on the SBC

/ davidsschrock

[This is the report that I shared with our church upon my return from the Southern Baptist Convention].

This year’s Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, Arizona was the smallest gathering of Southern Baptists since World War II (1944).  However, its diminutive size (approx. 4,800 messengers) should not discount the importance of the two-day convention (June 14-15).  As Bryant Wright, this year’s president, put it, “I do believe it could prove to be the most spiritually significant convention over the last 50 years.”

Why?  Why would an off-year convention invite such a statement?

In one sentence, it is because the spirit of the convention was filled with unity to complete the task of the Great Commission here and abroad.  Whereas the 2005 convention in Greensboro, NC began with a two-hour debate between on the merits and demerits of  Calvinism.  This year’s convention was marked by unity around the gospel and reaching the 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups. Again Wright puts it succinctly, “This was the most unified convention around the Great Commission that I have experienced.  People came here with anticipation of that unity.”

Some of those people were three new presidents of Southern Baptist entities.  Each of these men are newly appointed presidents of the NAMB, IMB, and the Executive Committee, and each man energized discussion with striking calls for church planting, missions, and unity.

The Executive Committee

First, Frank Page addressed the convention with more than 20 entity leaders on the platform.  He introduced a resolution affirming unity and cooperation among Southern Baptists.  The last decade has seen a great deal of misunderstanding and name calling at the convention and on blogs, so Page and others have called Southern Baptists to greater unity.  In his address, he said,

“Our convention is fracturing into various groups, some theological, most methodological…Sometimes there is an honest difference of opinion, but often there is self-centeredness that frequently mirrors our own culture… Christ-like selflessness is our only hope.”

With those sentiments he introduced five pledges for Southern Baptists to embrace.

  1. We pledge to maintain a relationship of mutual trust …
  2. We pledge to attribute the highest motives to those engaged in local church ministries and those engaged in denominational service in any level of Convention life …
  3. We pledge to affirm the value of cooperative ministry as the most effective and efficient means of reaching a lost world …
  4. We pledge to embrace our brothers and sisters of every ethnicity, race, and language as equal partners in our collective ministries to engage all people groups with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
  5. We pledge to continue to honor and affirm proportional giving through the Cooperative Program as the most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our outreach as Southern Baptists ….”

I believe these pledges, if kept, will go along way to including all kinds of gospel-minded Southern Baptists, while challenging each Southern Baptist to love, learn, and listen to others who may approach ministry from a different point of view.  My prayer is that this commitment does not reduce biblical precision and doctrinal distinctives, but that maturing Southern Baptists will uphold a spirit of gospel peace even when they disagree on doctrines not spelled out in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.

The North American Mission Board

Second, Kevin Ezell called Southern Baptists to be honest about numbers.  Boldly, he declared that Southern Baptists like numbers.  We like big numbers.  However, this has led to unqualified and inflated numbers for the convention. This has been a statistical concern for the millions of missing Southern Baptists each Sunday, but Ezell pointed out that it is not just individuals but churches that are missing.  In the words of Jesus, he reported…

”You have heard it said” that NAMB plants close to 1500 church plants a year, “but I say unto you” that NAMB planted 769 churches last year.

You have heard it said that NAMB has over 5100 missionaries, “but I say unto you” that 3480 of those are jointly funded with state conventions, 1839 are missionary spouses, some of whom have ministry assignments and some of whom do not.  He also pointed out that that 1616 are Mission Service Corps volunteers who receive no NAMB funding at all.  Thus the numbers are not as high as we might first think.

Likewise, on the topic of numbers.  Ezell pointed out that through retirement incentives and other compensations, he has reduced the total number of employees at the NAMB head quarters in Alpharetta.  He stressed a desire to do more with less people.  And while this at first sounds cold-hearted or anti-missional.  Here is the payoff.  By reducing the overhead 38%, NAMB will be able to put $8 million dollars into church planting.  Moreover, he pointed out that less than 4% of SBC churches are directly involved in church planting.  Ezell’s challenge: “We must do better.  We are going to do better.”

This leads to the final point.  In addition to improving reporting and oversight of Southern Baptist church plants, he also intends to lead in an initiative to plant more successful church plants.  Thus, he introduced a new initiative to “SEND” church planters into 25 urban centers around the country.

The International Missions Board

Third, Tom Elliff called for Southern Baptists to be more involved in reaching the unreached.   Following the powerful missions message of David Platt, Elliff said,

“This convention has been one long sermon…. There is not one thing I could say” that messengers have not already heard. A lost world, Elliff said, needs churches who consider it unacceptable that there are people groups “who do not have somebody deliberately” trying to engage them with the Gospel.

This call for greater outreach to the unreached was championed by David Platt, whose message from gospel of Matthew reminded Southern Baptists that Jesus will not come until all the nations have heard (Matt 24:14).  And since Jesus has not come, there are still peoples awaiting the Good News.  In fact, current statistics say that 3,800 peoples are awaiting the Good News.

As Platt put it, “”This is not a problem for the International Mission Board to address. This is a problem for every pastor and every local church to address.”

Indeed, it is something that I hope our church will address very shortly.  At the convention, more than 1,000 messengers responded to the call to reach the unengaged, unreached people groups.  I pray that we will too.

The church that shines the farthest shines brightest at home. 

I was tremendously encouraged by the unity of the messengers around the centrality of the gospel.  The divergence of speakers at the pastors’ conference was a good reminder that God is at work among many people, and that even when there are disagreements on things like the order of regeneration and faith, and what the doctrine of election fully means, there can be unity in reaching the lost for Christ.  This was also evident in the conversation between Mark Dever and Paige Patterson.  Again, I am encouraged by the evangelistic unity developing among Southern Baptists who in the past have argued over God’s sovereignty in salvation.

I hope that our church will follow suit.  Satan would love for us to wrangle over lesser points of doctrine, and to miss out on the fact that a lost and dying world is still lost and dying.  It is my hope and prayer and mission to lead our church to be more missions-minded and missional in our own community, even as we continue to grow into a greater understanding of God’s word and a love for one another.  Satan would love for us to question the motives and intents of others, but Christ is raising up an army of gospel-witnessing warriors, and I pray Calvary will be a bastion for such life-saving truth.

I want to thank you for letting me go to the convention this year.  I was motivated and encouraged by the things I saw and heard.  And I pray that all that was planned and promised will come to fruition as the Lord supplies the growth to the seeds that were sown and the plants that were watered.

Other SBC Reviews Consulted For This Report

SBC Annual Convention Videos

Baptist Press

SBC Voices

Trevin Wax