What’s a Congregation Worth?

From Christianity Today (click picture for a larger image).

Between 4 Worlds

Anthony Bradley on being patient with black evangelicals who have to negotiate between 4 worlds.  I had no idea it could be so complex and I appreciate hearing his story.  It is interesting what I learn by just stop and listen to others and their perspective.  Here is Bradley in his own words…

The truth is, black evangelicals have the difficult burden of having to navigate between four worlds: the several hundred-year-old, well established black church universe; the evangelical church subculture; mainstream black culture; and mainstream Anglo-oriented American culture.  But for black Christians, navigating between these four worlds can be time-consuming and challenging. Even thinking about all this makes me tired. In the end, I am making a public plea for patience and grace for blacks coming into evangelical circles, because what many evangelicals consider standard and normal for all Christians simply is not. Black Christians should not be shamed because they were raised in a world, a very different one than the evangelical mainstream, and have to spend time navigating between four worlds concurrently. At times, it’s simply exhausting.

For the full article, click HERE.

An Athiest’s Hymn

Tempted by Apathy

More from Joel Brooks…

When pastors plead for their congregations to shake off their apathy and finally take action, this attempt to motivate can lead us to abandon the gospel if only for a moment. I have sought the Lord to repent of my own misplaced emphasis on what we need to do to prove ourselves as real Christians. I need to constantly remind myself of the gospel. Daily I struggle to put to death the desires I have to show myself as wild for Jesus and the impulse to do something great for him in order to win his approval. Romans 4:5 is the medicine I take daily—“And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness . . .” (italics mine).

What powerful, life-altering words these are! What lavish grace! Paul is saying that the one who does not go on the mission field, does not give to the homeless, does not tithe, does not throw away his TV, does not tutor at an inner-city school but believes in Christ who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Belief is all that is required for the ungodly. How amazing is that?!

This is the medicine we all need and what I must constantly preach from the pulpit—to Christians and non-Christians alike. Otherwise, no matter how strong my words are, they will only inspire people momentarily, never sustain them. I can guilt people into giving or use inspirational stories to move them, but without the steady drumbeat of the gospel, I am leading people into a works-based righteousness no matter how good my intentions. And sure, good works will follow, but not out of a heart of gratitude and worship to Jesus.

To read the complete post, click HERE.

On Itchy Ears

Joel Brooks on a GREAT danger…

I can remember the exact place where I was standing, the music that was playing in the background, and seeing the group still praying and weeping by the side door, when I heard words that knocked me off balance. It was 10 years ago, and I had just finished preaching when a young woman came up to me and asked if we could talk. She was emotionally moved from the sermon, but what she said surprised me. “Joel, these past few weeks I have never felt so challenged and stirred, but after listening to you, I feel that if I don’t go on the mission field or go and do something wild for God, then I must not believe in the gospel. Is that what you’re saying?”

I was devastated. Her words crushed me. I said to her, “No, of course not! We are all saved by grace through faith alone. That is the gospel by which we are saved. God is never impressed with our efforts.”

I reassured her the best I could, but once she left, I quickly went over the message I had just preached. Did I say those things? Where did she get that idea? Yes, I had stepped on a few toes and said some things about not giving in to the American dream and how we all need to get up off our pews and live for the Lord, but I never said that we weren’t saved by faith alone. I thought, Of course we are saved by grace through faith! Of course our works can never justify us! Every Christian knows that! But was I faithfully preaching this? Was this my focus? I couldn’t get this question out of my mind.

To keep reading, click HERE.

 

Still More on Bell

More on Bell

John Mark Reynolds has some great analysis on Rob Bell and Eugene Peterson’s endorsement of his latest book.  This is definitely worth 10 minutes of your time to read through.  Here is a snippet and then click on the “HERE” at the end to read his full remarks.

Eugene Peterson wrote a blurb for Rob Bell’s new book on hell.

His comments in a recent interview are worth noticing, because it points to a problem. He is careful not to agree with Bell, but makes it very hard to disagree with him.

Rob Bell has views that are (at least) similar to those that early founders of Evangelicalism explicitly rejected (as their college creeds indicate). Now the Evangelical founders may have been wrong, but Bell is disagreeing with them at one of the points where they agreed with the vast majority of the Christian tradition.

Rome agrees. Orthodoxy agrees. Evangelicals all agreed that hell was a place of eternal torment. Bell (perhaps?) does not agree. Noticing this shift is not bad manners and disagreement that is not stronger than Bell’s own language (or that of Jesus) can be pretty potent!

To read the full post, please click HERE.

On Rob Bell’s Gospel

Below is Rob Bell’s statement of the Gospel… is there anything missing?

It begins in the sure and certain truth that we are loved. That in spite of whatever has gone horribly wrong deep in our hearts and has spread to every corner of the world, in spite of our sins, failures, rebellion, and hard hearts, in spite of what has been done to us or what we’ve done, God has made peace with us.

Al Mohler comments on what is missing:

Missing from his Gospel is any clear reference to Christ, any adequate understanding of our sin, any affirmation of the holiness of God and his pledge to punish sin, any reference to the shed blood of Christ, his death on the cross, his substitutionary atonement, and his resurrection, and, so tellingly, any reference to faith as the sinners response to the Good News of the Gospel. There is no genuine Gospel here. This is just a reissue of the powerless message of theological liberalism.

To read Mohler’s review of Rob Bell’s new book, click HERE.

On Ash Wednesday

Occasionally this time of year, I’ll see students at the university where I work with an ash cross on their foreheads.  Why do they do this?  Bad hygiene?

Today is Ash Wednesday and it has been traditionally set aside by many churches as a day of repentance and fasting.  It occurs 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays) and marks the beginning of a 40-day period called Lent, a season of fasting and prayer before Easter.  A pastor marks a person’s forehead with ash in the sign of a cross, ash being the biblical sign of sorrow and repentance (e.g., David, Daniel, Job, etc.).   Traditionally, the pastor will recite Genesis 3:19 as he makes the ashen cross (“for you are dust, and to dust you shall return”) as a way for a person to reflect on their frail humanity and his or her need for Christ.

Protestant groups that follow this tradition include some Presbyterians, Lutherans, Wesleyans, and even some churches within the Free church movement.  Other protestant groups protest the practice, believing it should be an inward, not outward, practice.  They often cite Matt. 6:16-18 in their argument:

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Should you observe Ash Wednesday?  It really is a matter of individual consceince.  There is nothing wrong with reflecting on one’s sinfulness or fasting, but the practice should not point merely inward, but should ultimately point to Christ.  The writer of Hebrews reminds of this when he encourages us to look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).  As with any practice or tradition, Christ should be the center.

 

On Democracy and the Middle East

Jan Fleischhauer from the German magazine Spiegel suggests that President Bush’s hope for a democratic Middle East may not be as ridiculous as some thought.  It may be too early to tell, but he just may have been right.

Painful as it may be to admit, it was the despised former US President George W. Bush who believed in the democratization of the Muslim world and incurred the scorn and mockery of the Left for his conviction.

Everyone was sure — without knowing any Muslims — that the Western model of democracy could not be applied in a backward society like Iraq. Everyone knew that the neo-conservative belief in the universal desire for freedom and progress was naïve nonsense. It is possible that the critics were right, albeit for the wrong reasons. The prospect of stability and order seems to be at least as important to many people.

We can only hope that the desire for freedom will triumph in the end. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have also put the blame on the US and Israel, though in the reverse order. To them, Mubarak is a “Zionist agent” and should therefore be destroyed like the Zionists; next in line are the “helpers” from the US.

As for the actual revolution, it appears that the Arab youth are not taking to the streets to burn US flags and call for the death of Israel, but to overthrow their own government.

It remains to be seen how long that continues.

Source: Fleischhauer, J. (2011). George W. Bush’s Liberal Legacy. Retrieved fromhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,743994,00.html