The Mission Of The Church

So what is the mission of the church?

"The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus Christ now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father."

~ Kevin DeYoung

(HT: C.J. Mahaney)

First Dallas Implodes!

I had the opportunity to serve a year as an intern in the Pastoral Ministries Department of First Baptist Church Dallas back in 1999-2000. I had previously served at another church in Dallas for 5 years as a student pastor and even though it was only for a year at First Dallas, it really was a sweet time in my life. It was while serving at First Dallas that my wife and I bowed our lives to the absolute Sovereignty of God over and in all things.

Stephanie and I had only been married for about 10 months when we received the invitation to minister at First Dallas. We enjoyed our time with the ministry staff and serving under then pastor, Mac Brunson, who arrived at First Dallas at the same time we did.

Recently First Dallas decided to enter into a new season of the church's history by tearing down and rebuilding its very old facilities in place of building new structures. Below is a short video of the demolition...it is a little weird to see something that has been around for many decades demolished in a moments time. It's weird b/c those were the very places that I taught Scripture, ministered to people, parked our vehicles, played basketball, etc.

At the end of the video you will be able to see the old historical sanctuary where the term 'expository preaching' was revived through the pulpit ministry of Dr. W.A. Criswell. I was a student at Criswell College and interned while Dr. Criswell was Pastor Emeritus at First Dallas shortly before his passing in 2002.

Church As A Bubble

"A church is a delicate thing, like a bubble, easily burst. Inside that bubble is a safety zone of immense significance for people. Inside that bubble sinners can receive grace according to the biblical gospel. They can start seeing God in a new way, they can see themselves in a new way, they can grow and change and enjoy the adventure.

The deal-breaker inside that bubble is not personal sins. They don’t have to burst the bubble. The deal-breaker, such that a pastor and elders must intervene, is making the internal dynamics of a church indistinguishable from the surrounding worldly environment of blame-shifting — what we see constantly in political discourse, for example. The thin film of differentiation, our true “separation” from the world, is the gospel of grace in both our theology and our sociology.

A wonderful place to be, a precious treasure to guard, and, for all its weakness, a mighty force for good. "

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

The Gospel-Centered Church

Here is a pretty good post from Tullian Tchividjian on how a gospel-centered church functions.

The gospel is the story of God in Christ reaching down to a sinful world and our tri-fold response to the gospel (or, the gospel-centered life) is a life lived reaching up, reaching in, and reaching out. God intends the reality and power of the gospel to mold and shape us at every point and in every way–defining the way we think, feel, and live as a local church.

Churches often obscure the glory of the gospel by reducing it to something less than it is. Some understand the gospel only as doctrinal content to be believed. Others diminish it to a personal, subjective experience of God’s presence. Still others see it as a social cause to be championed. The gospel is none of these, and yet it is all of these. A truly gospel-centered church understands and embraces the fullness of the gospel as content, community, and cause.”

GOSPEL CONTENT The Gospel is a message that is to be preached or proclaimed (Mark 1:14; Acts 14:21; Rom 1:15; 1 Peter 1:12). It is the story of God’s redemption of his fallen creation. It is the good news that God has acted in history to conquer evil and reconcile sinners to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:1-12). A gospel-centered church is one where the gospel is proclaimed clearly, consistently, and compellingly (1 Cor 9:16-23).

GOSPEL COMMUNITY The gospel is not just a message to be believed, but a power to be experienced (Rom 1:16). The gospel shapes a new community as those who were formerly God’s enemies are reconciled to Him (Rom 5:10) and adopted into his family (Gal 4:4-7). The church is not a place, but a people – a community that is continually being reformed and renewed by the transforming power of the gospel (Col. 1:6).

GOSPEL CAUSE The gospel is a call to action – a declaration that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). God is not just interested in the salvation of humans, but in the restoration of all of creation to its original “good” (Gen 1:31; Rom 8:19-22). A gospel-centered church will be active in the work of mercy, justice, and cultural renewal, praying and working against the effects of sin so that God’s will might be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

(HT: Tullian Tchividjian)

Four Great Quotes On Idolatry

“It is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God.” Soren Kierkegaard

“Spiritual pride is the illusion that you are competent to run your own life, achieve your own sense of self worth, and find a purpose big enough to give you meaning in life without God.”
Tim Keller

“Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshipped.” St. Augustine

“An idol is anything we trust in for deliverance in the place of Jesus and his grace.” Scotty Smith

"By the way, idolatry is not just a problem for non-Christians; it’s a problem for Christians too (read 1 John 5:21). We Christians are also guilty of trusting in something–or someone–smaller than God to give our lives meaning and significance. We look to our achievements, our reputation, our relationships, our strengths, our place in society, our stuff, our smarts, our good looks, and on and on it goes.

So, let’s not make the mistake of thinking the above quotes don’t apply to Christians. They do. What are your idols? What are you trusting in other than Jesus to gain acceptance and approval–to give your life meaning and to make life worth living?"

(HT: Tullian Tchividjian)

Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperians

When you have 7 minutes to read a blog post and you want to stretch your thinking about the Kingdom of God, the church and her ministry for today, then check out Kevin DeYoung's post by clicking here.

It is well worth the time to read and think through the implications of not only what you believe, but more importantly how you live out what you believe concerning the Kingdom of God.

Enjoy and discuss it!

Every Church Is Dying

This is a pretty interesting take on churches today from Tullian Tchividjian's blog.

"My friend Darryl Dash notes that every church is a dying church in one of three ways:

Some churches are literally dying. They are slowly losing people and will likely shut down.

Some churches are glitzy and successful. They look vibrant and alive, but they’re really only alive to themselves and their institution. They look alive, but they’re dying and they don’t know it.

Then there’s the church that could be big or small, glitzy or drab, that dies to itself daily – that has taken up the cross and is more concerned with following Christ, no matter what it costs, than its survival.

All churches are dying. Only the third type of church, however, will experience a resurrection. What kind of church are we?"

How Do You Protect Yourself From Exchanging Grace For Merit?

Last Sunday Pastor Brent Wells, from our mother church Lakewood Baptist, preached in my absence. He preached on Hebrews 12.8-25.

In this passage there is the contrast between Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion. Both have God. Both have the people of God. And both have God's holiness all over it. But one you can physically touch while the other is physically untouchable. One you can physically pursue, while the other pursues you. One has never been intended to save, the other is intended to save. One does not have a mediator, while the other has a Mediator!

The non-believing Hebrews tried to use Mt. Sinai and the law to approach God. They simply would not put the rights, rituals, and ceremonies down. They wouldn't put the old down for the New. Thus they never understood the full purpose of the law and did not embrace God's grace over merit.

Application for the church today.....How do you protect yourself from exchanging grace for merit?

First let me say, we're not talking about falling from grace, but getting tangled and encumbered with striving to earn God's love even within the Christian life.

How can we have our quiet times without doing it for merit sake?
How can we attend church without doing it for merit sake?
How can we witness to the lost without doing it for merit sake?
How can men pastor their families without doing it for merit sake?
How can women follow their husbands and train their children in righteousness without doing it for merit sake?

In the context of Hebrews 12 we should preach the gospel to ourselves. We should constantly put God's Word before us and examine the ways that He has shown Himself to be holy, righteous, perfect and good. We should constantly see ourselves as helpless and hopeless apart from God. We should constantly make ourselves aware of the fact that we are in desperate need of a Mediator between us and God. We should constantly look to the cross to see how God has provided the way for us to be reconciled to Him through the Mediator....Jesus Christ!

This is the kind of Christian approach to protect ourselves from doing things for merit sake. One is totally from the heart that longs to see Christ glorified. While the other is stoic with no affections for God whatsoever and for a season looks good on the outside, but is nothing more than a tomb on the inside.

We simply must be intentional and aggressive with the gospel!

What Is The Glory Of God?

This was a question asked to John Piper and in his response he basically says that that's a good question and since we use the phrase so often we should know what it means when we say it.

So, John Piper, what is the glory of God?

"What is it? I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we're created in his image, and we're trusting his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy.

The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by "glory," and I base that partly on Isaiah 6, where the seraphim say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and you would expect them to say "holiness" and they say "glory." They're ascribing "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and when that goes public in the earth and fills it, you call it "glory."

So God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections."

Our vision statement for New Life Church reflects this understanding from Piper:

"New Life's Vision is to fulfill God's eternal purpose for creating the church, by living our lives in such a way, that we accurately display God's wisdom and glory to all of creation."

Our prayer is that God 'will' manifest His glory in Eads, Tennessee through His Church, and that becomes a reality by living our lives in such a way that will accurately display His glory.

Pray for accuracy!

God In The Wasteland

In the book Unfashionable, Tullian Tchividjian quotes David Wells and his hope for young evangelicals and the contemporary church:

"I want the evangelical church to be the church. I want it to embody a vibrant spirituality. I want the church to be an alternative to post-modern culture, not a mere echo of it. I want a church that is bold to be different and unafraid to be faithful,...a church that reflects an integral and undiminished confidence in the power of God's Word, a church that can find in the midst of our present cultural breakdown the opportunity to be God's people in a world that has abandoned God. To be the church in this way, it is also going to have to find in the coming generation, leaders who exemplify this hope for its future and who will devote themselves to seeing it realized...They will have to decline to spend themselves in the building of their own private kingdoms and refuse to be intimidated into giving the church less and other than what it needs....To succeed, they will have to be people of large vision, people of courage, people who have learned again what it means to live by the Word of God, and, most importantly, what it means to live before the Holy God of that Word."

This is a good word for us at New Life Church. We should strive to be the church that God desires His church to be and to live that out with a high view of God, regardless if it brings 'church growth'.

Do You Trust Me? No Really!

Probably one of the best chapters that I have ever read on Christian community is in chapter 11 (The Truthful Community) of unfashionable.

Tullian discusses the first of six ways that Paul addresses the church, as a whole, for living and putting on the new self in Ephesians 4.22-32. The first of these counter-cultural marks is truthfulness. He says,

"We should be a truthful community. We're to put off lies and fully embrace truth. Why is this such a crucial step in our witness to the world? Because we live in a trustless culture, and people are hungry for an alternative to that trustlessness. Few people trust anyone these days, and it's for good reason: too few people these days are trustworthy. We live in a perpetual state of suspicion, wondering whom we can really rely on."

He then goes on to quote Francis Fukuyama in his book, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity....

"every culture that has been able to advance its economy, achieve technical proficiency, and develop innovative organizations has been a culture where trust is entrenched in the society. Fukuyama argues compellingly that in comparison with low-trust societies that need to negotiate and often litigate rules and regulations, high-trust societies are able to minimize the cost of doing business and, as a result, advance culture to a high level."

"Why is this? Because every healthy, functioning community is built on trust--in your home, in your neighborhood, at work, or wherever relationships among people are critical. Cities, towns, villages, countries, and cultures are all dependent on trust to function properly. Take away trust and you take away community."

"That's because healthy community relies on people who invest in one another, serve one another, provide for one another, and defer to one another. Without this 'one-anotherness' genuine community cannot exist."

Do you SEE the dilemma? Do you SEE the opportunity?

It's in this area where the church can literally stand firm the strongest in this culture. If the secular community around is growing in paranoia, because they can't even genuinely trust those in their own homes, the religious community (the Church) should be able to humbly stand tall and be the trustworthy people that others can look to and rely on. Our yes should mean yes and our no should mean no.

We ought to stand out like a beacon in the dark-blinding night, as a community of Christians who hold to truth and embrace it with everything we have and live truth. Truth is what enables us to live in such a way that is pleasing to Christ and that is illuminating to the dark world around us.

The irony of the whole thing is this, even though this culture we live in is shunning truth, it's the one thing that they desperately need. They desperately need to embrace the truth of God's sovereignty over all things. They desperately need to embrace the truth that they have sinned against God. They desperately need to embrace the truth that He has provided a way for them to be right with Him. And they desperately need to embrace the truth that the way to be right with Him is through His Son Jesus Christ.

Will we be the ones to live truth in a truthless culture, so that others can find the ultimate Truth--Jesus Christ?

Let us be that kind of 'true' church--NLC!

The Fellowship Of The Church

"The fellowship of the church is part of God's good news to men. It imparts to the gospel one of its most thrilling notes--that when Christ saves a man he not only saves him from his sin, he saves him from his solitude."

~ Frank Colquhoun

The Irrelevance Of Relevance

In chapter 2 of unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian he writes that there is sort of an irrelevance to the whole trying to be relevant to our culture thing. Today's generation is 'yearning' for something greater than themselves and that churches are actually doing a disservice to themselves and to the gospel, by trying to be 'fashionable' and cool. He writes about the now generation,

"they want truthful engagement with historical and theological solidity that enables meaningful interaction with transcendant reality. They want desperately
to invest their lives in something worth dying for, not some here-today-gone-tomorrow fad. Just as people are starting to seek after truth, many churches are turning away from it. As a result these churches are losing their distinct identity as a people set apart to reach the world.

I have good news for all of us who are becoming weary of this pressure from church leaders to fit in with the world: we don't have to. "The ultimate factor in the church's engagement with society," Os Guinness says, "is the church's engagement to God." Contrary to what we've been hearing, our greatest need as twenty-first-century churches is not structural but spiritual. Our main problem is not that we're culturally out of touch; it's that we're theologically out of tune.

We need to remember that God has established his church as an alternative society, not to compete with or copy this world, but to offer a refreshing alternative to it."

So, New Life Church, we must not forget that eventhough we may be living our lives in a counter-cultural way, we are still called to actually engage the culture. To live lives that are different for Christ's sake, and yet, are attractive to the world that would peek in and take a look at your life.

Paul's exhortation to Titus is exactly this...Titus was to live and to teach those in his church to show themselves 'to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified', in order that the world may see this attractive living.

"but showing all good faith that they (the world) may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect." ~ Titus 2.10

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
~ Matthew 5.16

Praise God!

Tonight at our Core Group Meeting for New Life Church....we unanimously affirmed our church's constitution.

Praise God....He is faithful to build His church!