- A kingdom mindset releases all saints as ministers in the marketplace. A church mindset merely trains people to serve in a church building on Sundays.
- A kingdom mindset creates wealth to transform a community and nation. A church mindset motivates giving to build our own church programs.
- A kingdom mindset is a holistic approach that integrates the gospel with politics, economics, and public policy. A church mindset insulates the gospel from politics and public policy.
- A kingdom mindset views the Bible as a blueprint to structure every aspect of society. A church mindset views the Bible merely as a pietistic book that enables us to escape the world, enter heaven, and be spiritual.
- With a kingdom mindset churches embrace and love their surrounding unchurched communities. With a church mindset churches only embrace converted individuals within their faith communities.
- A kingdom mindset trains people for all of life. A church mindset trains people only for church life.
- A kingdom mindset nurtures leaders who are world changers and “cultural creatives” who articulate truth to society. A church mindset nurtures leaders who speak religious language relevant only to church people.
- A kingdom mindset speaks of the rule of God over the entire created order. A church mindset speaks of the rule of God through deacons and elders over those in a church congregation.
- With a kingdom mindset pastors release their people to their vocational callings in the marketplace. A church mindset controls people by marginalizing their marketplace callings and emphasizing only their Sunday ministries.
- A kingdom mindset applies a Spirit-empowered approach to the natural world. A church mindset involves a spirituality that separates from the natural world.
- Those with a kingdom mindset are working toward a renaissance of Christendom. Those with a church mindset merely strive for a particular expression (denomination) of Christianity.
- Churches with a kingdom mindset equip 100% of the saints to fill up all things in every realm of life (Ephesians 4:10-12). Those with a church mindset have as their primary goal to equip the 2-3% of the congregation called to be full-time church pastors, ministers, and missionaries.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Mattera's List
In last Sunday's sermon, I forgot to bring with me an article written by Joseph Mattera comparing a "Kingdom mentality" with a "church mentality" - comparing the thoughts and actions of those who put the Kingdom first against the thoughts and actions of those who care more about the institution of church than God's Kingdom. Here's is Mattera's list as he originally published it on his blog (http://josephmattera.org/):
Monday, June 10, 2013
Assume that What Grows Above Ground has God-given Roots
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
-- Augustine
Last Sunday, we talked about ways that we get stuck in circles in our relationships (and ways that we can get stuck in discipling one another). The first step out of this futile cycle is to assume that what grows above ground has God-given roots. This first point of the three caused a bit of discussion.
What grows "above ground" are the ways that we communicate and act - the words that we say, the tones in which we say them. What grows above ground may be good lawn or weeds - good, accurate, kind words or mean-spirited, untrue words. Most often, it's a mix of some good plants and some weeds. We get "stuck" when all we do is engage what grows above ground, and especially when assume that there could be nothing legitimate about what the other person did or said. Our first point is to assume that everything we do and say is an expression of a God-given need - that there is something very, very legitimate about it, no matter how ugly it looks above ground.
God made us in His image. One of the many implications of this truth is that God specifically designed us to have core needs that would be satisfied only in Him. This makes us unique from all the other creatures. He made us with the core need to love and be loved, to have purpose and significance, to matter, to have emotional, physical, and spiritual security, to be in healthy relationship with others, and so on. These needs motivate everything we do, and are designed to seek out God for soul satisfaction.
God's Law directs us to find our satisfaction for these needs ultimately in God. Look at the Old Testament Law with this in mind, and you'll see that what God is doing is preventing us from seeking satisfaction for those needs in other things, and furthermore, to pursue satisfaction only in Him. We see this most intensely in His prohibition against idolatry and demand for exclusive worship.
One way to understand sin is that it is pursuing God-given needs by God-forbidden means. Obvious examples include substance abuse (to seek the God-given need for joy or meaning), promiscuity (to seek the God-given need for love and connection), and violence (to seek the God-given need for things to be under control). Less obvious examples include things like gossip (to seek self-righteousness). It's not hard to look at any particular sin and see how it is a failed attempt to satisfy a God-given need by something other than God.
Jesus, of course, was absent of this failed pursuit. He sought satisfaction for all the things His human nature needed, but He sought them only in His Father. The three temptations that Satan threw at Him in the wilderness were precisely to fulfill God-given needs in something other than the Father. His three responses were that He would find what His soul desires only in His Father. Fast forward to the end of the story of man - how is our eternal state described in Scripture other than full satisfaction for all our needs, specifically and exclusively in Christ?
Everything we do is driven by trying to satisfy God-given needs. In relationships, we may say horrible, ugly, untrue things - but what we're trying to do underneath all that illegitimate dialog is to satisfy a God-given need. (We often do not realize this, but it drives us nonetheless - we do everything to scratch God-given itches, and our sinfulness often diverts us in that pursuit)
If we stop assuming this simple truth about one another, then when one of us does speak in weed-like ways, the other will ignore the God-given need being expressed and focus only on the weediness. We get stuck
never attempting to help one another find our true satisfaction in Christ, because we've assumed there's no God-given need to be satisfied. We focus on the illegitimate and ignore the legitimate, and then wonder why we're stuck.
This assumption is essential before we can attempt the next two steps (ignore the weeds and cultivate the deep soil). This assumption is an act of grace.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
You Don't Build an Outhouse Out of Platinum
We have been spending a lot of time lately on the idea of discipleship (which, quite frankly, is what every church should be saying all the time). It is the task given to the Church in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The word we have chosen to describe the process of developing disciples is cultivate, which brings to mind the hard labor of a farmer working with God, who is the one who makes the plants grow. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, Paul employs the same metaphor when he describes his own strain and labor in Corinth, along with that of Apollos, in developing disciples there, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow."
In the next paragraph, Paul switches metaphors from farming to construction, but makes the same point. He teaches that our labor of "construction" (of disciples) can be done with valuable, enduring materials (such as gold, silver, and precious stones) or with unsturdy, cheap materials (such as wood, hay, and straw). In the end, all our labor of construction will be tested by fire (which, of course, will burn up the wood, hay, and straw, but purify the gold, silver, and gems).
Think about how valuable this building must be! If the general contractor gives us valuable ores and precious stones to build with, then he must think that the thing that we're building (disciples) is extremely important. You don't give the builders valuable materials to build an unimportant structure, and you don't give them cheap materials if you want them to build a special building. The materials he expects us to build with tells us the value he places on the thing he wants built.
There are other clues that God puts a high value on this building. Paul tells the builders they need to be careful how they build (v. 10) - such a warning would be unnecessary if the building wasn't important. The testing by fire (v. 13) tells us that the owner must care an awful lot about the building, since he has such a severe test for quality. This building (the community of disciples) is called a "temple," which houses God's own Spirit (v. 16) - no building could have a more important function! Furthermore, if anyone destroys that temple, he will in turn be destroyed (v. 17). This temple is holy (v. 17). What we are building is valuable and important!
Therefore, when we're talking about the process of cultivating disciples, we're not just talking about a nice thing Christians ought to do when they find the time. This discipleship that we're studying is flooded with descriptions of how valuable God considers it to be. Cultivating disciples is nothing less than the most important building project God gave us to do, and equipped us with gold, silver, and precious stones in order to do it. What we are encouraging you to do with your family, friends, and unsaved friends holds that kind of value in God's eyes.
In the next paragraph, Paul switches metaphors from farming to construction, but makes the same point. He teaches that our labor of "construction" (of disciples) can be done with valuable, enduring materials (such as gold, silver, and precious stones) or with unsturdy, cheap materials (such as wood, hay, and straw). In the end, all our labor of construction will be tested by fire (which, of course, will burn up the wood, hay, and straw, but purify the gold, silver, and gems).
Think about how valuable this building must be! If the general contractor gives us valuable ores and precious stones to build with, then he must think that the thing that we're building (disciples) is extremely important. You don't give the builders valuable materials to build an unimportant structure, and you don't give them cheap materials if you want them to build a special building. The materials he expects us to build with tells us the value he places on the thing he wants built.
There are other clues that God puts a high value on this building. Paul tells the builders they need to be careful how they build (v. 10) - such a warning would be unnecessary if the building wasn't important. The testing by fire (v. 13) tells us that the owner must care an awful lot about the building, since he has such a severe test for quality. This building (the community of disciples) is called a "temple," which houses God's own Spirit (v. 16) - no building could have a more important function! Furthermore, if anyone destroys that temple, he will in turn be destroyed (v. 17). This temple is holy (v. 17). What we are building is valuable and important!
Therefore, when we're talking about the process of cultivating disciples, we're not just talking about a nice thing Christians ought to do when they find the time. This discipleship that we're studying is flooded with descriptions of how valuable God considers it to be. Cultivating disciples is nothing less than the most important building project God gave us to do, and equipped us with gold, silver, and precious stones in order to do it. What we are encouraging you to do with your family, friends, and unsaved friends holds that kind of value in God's eyes.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
How to Teach the Book of Isaiah in Less Than a Week
Every time I go to Kenya, I spend most of my time teaching at the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology (AEST), which trains future pastors, elders, and teachers, both male and female. I usually have just under two weeks to teach. Sometimes I teach a two-week class, and other times a one-week class and either a smaller topic for the following week (or we're in a different location that second week). This year, I'll have 8 days in the classroom at AEST.
What topics I teach are usually up to the faculty of AEST - they have a curriculum and certain topics the students need in order to graduate, so they tell me what they want me to teach to fit into their plan. That usually means that I have to pull together a semester's worth of material from my notes and studies to teach in a week's time. A couple of years, I've had the luxury of bringing something I had already prepared that fit into their course requirements. This year, no such luxury.
AEST wants me to teach the book of Isaiah the first week and apologetics for the partial second week. Have you read Isaiah lately? It's big. It's complex. It's repetitive, and yet it moves in a particular direction. And did I mention that it's big?
How can I teach that big (it's big), complex book in a week? Well, I can do that - but how can I teach it in a way that will be of true benefit in a week's time? It's flat out too much information, too much theology, and too much prophecy to digest within a week.
I could do just a high level survey, but that's not effective for their concrete learning style. I could do representative sections, but then you miss the narrative, and they are also storytelling learners.
Rather than telling them what Isaiah has, my plan is to coach them into discovering what Isaiah has. In addition to being concrete, storytelling learners, my students at AEST are also group learners. So, I will create three teams. Each day, the members of one team will all be in one minor section, and the other teams will cover the other minor sections. All three will then be covering a major section of the book in a day's time, and by the end of the week, the whole book will be covered. They will do individual work, and then work as teams, to discover what each passage of each minor section has to say. Then in class, the teams will teach the rest of the class what Isaiah has to say. My job will to be to make sure they stay accurate - very little lecture. By the end of the week, they will have a full overview of Isaiah, and will have taught one another what it says.
The great benefits are: 1) Discovery is far more effective than lecture, 2) they will finish the class with a method of how to study Isaiah after I'm gone, and 3) they will have worked together to help one another understand this great (big!) book.
I pray this will work! (I've never tried this kind of teaching before.)
Discovery is something you're going to hear more about at Grace Fellowship as we continue to learn how complete followers are cultivated.
What topics I teach are usually up to the faculty of AEST - they have a curriculum and certain topics the students need in order to graduate, so they tell me what they want me to teach to fit into their plan. That usually means that I have to pull together a semester's worth of material from my notes and studies to teach in a week's time. A couple of years, I've had the luxury of bringing something I had already prepared that fit into their course requirements. This year, no such luxury.
AEST wants me to teach the book of Isaiah the first week and apologetics for the partial second week. Have you read Isaiah lately? It's big. It's complex. It's repetitive, and yet it moves in a particular direction. And did I mention that it's big?
How can I teach that big (it's big), complex book in a week? Well, I can do that - but how can I teach it in a way that will be of true benefit in a week's time? It's flat out too much information, too much theology, and too much prophecy to digest within a week.
I could do just a high level survey, but that's not effective for their concrete learning style. I could do representative sections, but then you miss the narrative, and they are also storytelling learners.
Rather than telling them what Isaiah has, my plan is to coach them into discovering what Isaiah has. In addition to being concrete, storytelling learners, my students at AEST are also group learners. So, I will create three teams. Each day, the members of one team will all be in one minor section, and the other teams will cover the other minor sections. All three will then be covering a major section of the book in a day's time, and by the end of the week, the whole book will be covered. They will do individual work, and then work as teams, to discover what each passage of each minor section has to say. Then in class, the teams will teach the rest of the class what Isaiah has to say. My job will to be to make sure they stay accurate - very little lecture. By the end of the week, they will have a full overview of Isaiah, and will have taught one another what it says.
The great benefits are: 1) Discovery is far more effective than lecture, 2) they will finish the class with a method of how to study Isaiah after I'm gone, and 3) they will have worked together to help one another understand this great (big!) book.
I pray this will work! (I've never tried this kind of teaching before.)
Discovery is something you're going to hear more about at Grace Fellowship as we continue to learn how complete followers are cultivated.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
I'm Too Busy to be Missional
The word missional may be new to some of you, and for others, it may be a term associated only with a particular movement. At its core, the word missional is a simple adjective that describes someone (or a church body) who is an intentional participant in God's mission to mankind. It's not a particular activity, not a particular movement, not a particular checklist of things, but an attitude and a lifestyle. Someone who is missional cares enough about God's mission that he or she lives life with that mission in mind.
It is not a word reserved for the extremists or those who are "radical." It is not reserved for clergy, elders, and deacons. It is not reserved for missionaries. Any believer of any age in any occupation can be missional. And Scripture is clear that God is missional, the Gospel is missional, the incarnation of Christ was missional, and the giving of the Holy Spirit is missional. In fact, the entire Bible is missional.
But we're a busy people, and we might think that being missional is something we don't have enough room in our schedules for. I don't have time to add another thing, so I'm not going to even think about becoming missional.
The great thing about being missional is that it's not a program to add to life, but a way of life. It's a way to do everything else.
In his article "10 Simple Ways To Be Missional …without adding anything to your schedule" (http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/10/04/tim-chester-10-simple-ways-to-be-missional/), Tim Chester has great suggestions on how even busy people can be quite missional. The short version of his list is:
It is not a word reserved for the extremists or those who are "radical." It is not reserved for clergy, elders, and deacons. It is not reserved for missionaries. Any believer of any age in any occupation can be missional. And Scripture is clear that God is missional, the Gospel is missional, the incarnation of Christ was missional, and the giving of the Holy Spirit is missional. In fact, the entire Bible is missional.
But we're a busy people, and we might think that being missional is something we don't have enough room in our schedules for. I don't have time to add another thing, so I'm not going to even think about becoming missional.
The great thing about being missional is that it's not a program to add to life, but a way of life. It's a way to do everything else.
In his article "10 Simple Ways To Be Missional …without adding anything to your schedule" (http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/10/04/tim-chester-10-simple-ways-to-be-missional/), Tim Chester has great suggestions on how even busy people can be quite missional. The short version of his list is:
- Eat with other people
- Work in public places
- Be a regular (at a restaurant or coffee shop)
- Join in with what’s going on (rather than starting up your own new thing)
- Leave the house in the evenings
- Serve your neighbors
- Share your passion
- Hang out with your work colleagues
- Walk
- Prayer walk
Certainly, we could come up with 20 more ideas just like these. The point is not this list, but the idea of this list. There are things we do every day anyway, and almost every one of those things can be done with a missional mindset and purpose. The key is to build relationships, to make your faith obvious but not obnoxious, and to share truth when people are willing and interested, to do as we learned in the last sermon - to share what you have personally seen and heard. All it takes is willingness and intentionality to take God's mission seriously.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and cultivate complete followers from all people groups." (Matthew 28:18-19, author's translation).
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Lifestyle Discipleship
Last Sunday, Jimmy introduced our working definition of "Lifestyle Discipleship" as he explained Jesus' incredibly simple, easily repeated, proven plan of discipleship. Lifestyle discipleship is:
Cultivating complete followers of Jesus
in every context
by sharing my redemptive life with others,
surrendered to the Father
and empowered by the Spirit.
Let's look at this definition phrase by phrase:
Cultivating complete followers of Jesus: The idea of cultivating, as we taught a couple of weeks ago, pictures co-laboring with God, doing the hard work of cultivating, planting, watering, and weeding in the lives of one another, while God is the one who causes the spiritual growth within any of us. We do this for the purpose of developing complete followers - followers of Jesus who are 1) fully devoted to Jesus, and 2) being fully formed in thoughts, words, and actions. That's a disciple.
In every context: Jesus didn't cultivate complete followers in the sterile environment of a classroom, or even in the synagogue. He cultivated them in the marketplace, along the road, and inside the homes of others. He didn't just cultivate on the Sabbath day, but every day of the week. It wasn't an extra "program" he added into His busy schedule - it was His schedule.
By sharing my redemptive life with others: Jesus was always relational in how He cultivated complete followers. He offered redemption in Himself through relationship with Him. We can't offer redemption in ourselves, but we can offer our "redemptive lives," redeemed in Christ and instruments of redemption to others through authentic relationships.
Surrendered to the Father: Jesus repeatedly taught that His earthly ministry was conducted completely surrendered to His Father (e.g. John 14:10). As we follow Christ, we follow in His method, too. "Surrender" is the humble act of "giving up the fight." Our selfish motivations drive us to serve ourselves, whereas surrendering means we follow the will of our Lord. It's God's mission first and foremost, so to participate in His mission is to surrender our will to His.
Empowered by the Spirit: Jesus temporarily set aside the free exercise of His divine attributes when He took on human flesh (Php 2:1-11). As a result, everything He did in his earthly ministry of cultivating complete followers was done by the divine power of the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him and empowered Him (Luke 3:21-22). We have no power in ourselves to "make disciples" - the power lies solely in the Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
Jesus is our model. His ministry here was to cultivate complete followers. Therefore, as we join Him in this mission, we model our methods and practices after His. The Church can at times overcomplicate our mission in our earnest desire to fulfill the mission. Jesus' ministry wasn't complicated. He was merely effective, surrendered to His Father, empowered by the Spirit.
In every context: Jesus didn't cultivate complete followers in the sterile environment of a classroom, or even in the synagogue. He cultivated them in the marketplace, along the road, and inside the homes of others. He didn't just cultivate on the Sabbath day, but every day of the week. It wasn't an extra "program" he added into His busy schedule - it was His schedule.
By sharing my redemptive life with others: Jesus was always relational in how He cultivated complete followers. He offered redemption in Himself through relationship with Him. We can't offer redemption in ourselves, but we can offer our "redemptive lives," redeemed in Christ and instruments of redemption to others through authentic relationships.
Surrendered to the Father: Jesus repeatedly taught that His earthly ministry was conducted completely surrendered to His Father (e.g. John 14:10). As we follow Christ, we follow in His method, too. "Surrender" is the humble act of "giving up the fight." Our selfish motivations drive us to serve ourselves, whereas surrendering means we follow the will of our Lord. It's God's mission first and foremost, so to participate in His mission is to surrender our will to His.
Empowered by the Spirit: Jesus temporarily set aside the free exercise of His divine attributes when He took on human flesh (Php 2:1-11). As a result, everything He did in his earthly ministry of cultivating complete followers was done by the divine power of the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him and empowered Him (Luke 3:21-22). We have no power in ourselves to "make disciples" - the power lies solely in the Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
Jesus is our model. His ministry here was to cultivate complete followers. Therefore, as we join Him in this mission, we model our methods and practices after His. The Church can at times overcomplicate our mission in our earnest desire to fulfill the mission. Jesus' ministry wasn't complicated. He was merely effective, surrendered to His Father, empowered by the Spirit.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
It'll all be all right
I recently had an opportunity to face the reality that not everything is always going to be OK. We live relatively safe, predictable lives where things just work (most of the time), minor injuries don't become life-threatening emergencies, and our jobs will be there tomorrow (again, most of the time). Many societies today still don't have that kind of confidence. We live in a blessed time in a blessed place - it's relatively infrequent that we must face the reality that things could become very, very not OK. But once in a while, we are forced to - someone passes away, someone is in a horrible accident, someone gets a horrible disease.
For me this time, it was Lynne having surgery. It wasn't even a high-risk surgery or a life-threatening illness. I had very little anxiety leading up to the surgery. But the surgery took quite a bit longer than we were told to expect, which opened the door for me to speculate what bad things might be happening. When I was finally called back to talk with the surgeon, waiting in a small, drab conference room, I realized that it was possible he didn't have all good news. Or, he might have very bad news.
When he showed up, the initial news was all positive. Then he explained some of the complications they encountered in the surgery. Then he told me that there was an unexplained, concerning drop in her blood oxygen level during surgery, which halted the procedure until they could bring it back up. Everything turned out fine, but it forced me out of my overly cavalier attitude to face the reality that it's not always going to be OK. It didn't cause me anxiety, but it did force me to think through some things I've had the luxury of ignoring.
Was my confidence leading up to the surgery based on statistics of medicine or the sovereignty of God? This was a relatively routine, lower-risk surgery. The statistics on there being severe complications is incredibly low. There is every reason to expect the good outcome that we ended up having. But was I enjoying a robust peace because I merely relied on statistical analysis, or because I knew that even if the worst might happen, God's sovereignty still reigns over every situation?
If my confidence is in the track record of doctors, then my confidence is completely circumstantial. It may be well-founded by the data, but sometimes life does the unusual, defying the statistics. And eventually, the statistics run down to the point where they are against you. Clearly, that confidence is faulty.
If my confidence is in the sovereignty of God, then my confidence is not circumstantial. It doesn't matter whether what happens complies to or beats the odds. The odds can deteriorate completely against me, and still I have something to put my confidence in. That confidence doesn't mean that everything will work according to my desires. But it does mean that everything that does happen is within the purposeful, attentive control of the eternal God. Even when things are not OK, they are in fact OK. Perhaps painful, tearful, and confusing, but never without purpose, never out of control, never stronger than the God who will one day make all things new.
Lynne and I have been overwhelmed by your expressions of concern, your offers to help, the food, the notes, the texts, and even the sensitivity to guard our privacy. You bear evidence of the sovereign God's care.
For me this time, it was Lynne having surgery. It wasn't even a high-risk surgery or a life-threatening illness. I had very little anxiety leading up to the surgery. But the surgery took quite a bit longer than we were told to expect, which opened the door for me to speculate what bad things might be happening. When I was finally called back to talk with the surgeon, waiting in a small, drab conference room, I realized that it was possible he didn't have all good news. Or, he might have very bad news.
When he showed up, the initial news was all positive. Then he explained some of the complications they encountered in the surgery. Then he told me that there was an unexplained, concerning drop in her blood oxygen level during surgery, which halted the procedure until they could bring it back up. Everything turned out fine, but it forced me out of my overly cavalier attitude to face the reality that it's not always going to be OK. It didn't cause me anxiety, but it did force me to think through some things I've had the luxury of ignoring.
Was my confidence leading up to the surgery based on statistics of medicine or the sovereignty of God? This was a relatively routine, lower-risk surgery. The statistics on there being severe complications is incredibly low. There is every reason to expect the good outcome that we ended up having. But was I enjoying a robust peace because I merely relied on statistical analysis, or because I knew that even if the worst might happen, God's sovereignty still reigns over every situation?
If my confidence is in the track record of doctors, then my confidence is completely circumstantial. It may be well-founded by the data, but sometimes life does the unusual, defying the statistics. And eventually, the statistics run down to the point where they are against you. Clearly, that confidence is faulty.
If my confidence is in the sovereignty of God, then my confidence is not circumstantial. It doesn't matter whether what happens complies to or beats the odds. The odds can deteriorate completely against me, and still I have something to put my confidence in. That confidence doesn't mean that everything will work according to my desires. But it does mean that everything that does happen is within the purposeful, attentive control of the eternal God. Even when things are not OK, they are in fact OK. Perhaps painful, tearful, and confusing, but never without purpose, never out of control, never stronger than the God who will one day make all things new.
Lynne and I have been overwhelmed by your expressions of concern, your offers to help, the food, the notes, the texts, and even the sensitivity to guard our privacy. You bear evidence of the sovereign God's care.
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