I spoke with a friend yesterday about doing a monthly theological and cultural discussion at the Ginger Man on Camp Bowie.
We would call it Full Contact Theology and we would have a speaker lecture on a topic and then facilitate a discussion or Q and A on it.
Basically we would encourage people to come out and ask the tough questions and hopefully foster some lively debate.
The Ginger Man is informally known as the thinking man's pub and would be a great place for it.
We will probably get started in late January.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
False Heaven
(Philippians 1:23) ...my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
If you were to ask most Christians what their reward is for being a follower of Christ most would say heaven. And in a sense they would be right. Heaven is a place that the Bible speaks of as our eternal reward, a place where there are no tears or sin.
Even our old school evangelism encouraged this: "if you were to die today do you know if you would go to heaven or hell?". Which is a weird way to evangelize if you think about it. Knocking on someone's door, "if I were to kill you right now, would you go to heaven."
And then inevitably the question gets asked. What will we do in heaven? Is there golf in heaven? Baseball? Grassy fields to run through? Lolipops?
And because heaven is the eternal end in mind, our teaching and lives are shaped around it. We preach sermons on 5 Ways to a Better Marriage and 3 Steps to a More Fulfilling Life. As Christians we live our lives using the Bible as a guidebook to a better life here on earth because we are practicing for the perfect life in heaven.
Now as you are reading this you might think, "but all that is true!". Yes, it is true, but it is incomplete.
Heaven is not the end. And the Bible shouldn't be used like a self-help book. Paul's desire is to depart and be with Christ - not to depart and go to heaven because they have baseball and lolipops.
In John 17:3 Jesus tells us what eternal life (heaven) is: "and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
Heaven is about knowing God. Knowing Him fully as you are fully known. God is our reward! We get Jesus. We are so skewed by sin that the thought of God being our reward doesn't seem to move us or excite us. But with the goal of seeking the face of God in place, all the other things - a good marriage, a fulfilling life - will happen. Sin is the ultimate enemy, not unhappiness or unfulfillment. And Jesus is the ultimate answer, not happiness or fulfillment.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Truth In Action
Its been said that Jesus is the fullness of the Old Testament offices - Prophet, Priest, and King.
Prophet in that He IS the truth, He proclaims the truth. He is the very Word of God. He casts vision and brings God to the people. Priest in that He is our Great High Priest - Counselor, Mediator, bringing the people to God. And King in that He is ruling and reigning forever. He has set in place the way of life and not just a way.
The church is also to be all three. Ephesians 1:23 states that the church is to be the fullness of Jesus. Ephesians 4:13 also states that as leaders we are to equip the saints to be the fullness of Christ.
So I was thinking about how this would play out in the various aspects of the vision for the church in Fort Worth. One family trait that we will be made up of is Truth. In a future post I will unpack that vision and how it looks more precisely but I want to take a quick overview of it now as it pertains to the church being prophet, priest, and king.
Through the preaching of the truth (prophet) and Christ-centered worship (prophet) will come the repentance and confession of sin. I am huge on dealing with your junk; going deep and being honest about the sins that have been committed against you - rape, abuse, neglect, etc - and the sin in your heart - lust, bitterness, unforgiveness.
Through the prophetic word of God a lot of hurt and junk and sin will be dug up. To properly care for and teach truth to all these new converts, it will take more teaching than Sunday morning can offer and good, hardcore biblical counseling and community. That will take kingly planning and authority.
The kings in the church (elders) will have to have systems and structures, and policies in place in order to properly care for and shepherd (priest) the flock.
I am big on counseling. But one problem I see with it is that most counselors are only priestly in nature, which is why you see people having to go to one for long, extended periods of time. Nothing ever really gets solved, but they get their fix. Counselors also need to be prophets - teaching truth to overcome the lies that the counselee is believing.
What must always be remembered is that truth finally dug up, sins confessed, lives transformed must never terminate on itself. It must always lead to the Truth, Jesus. It must always lead to the church being further on mission for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Prophet in that He IS the truth, He proclaims the truth. He is the very Word of God. He casts vision and brings God to the people. Priest in that He is our Great High Priest - Counselor, Mediator, bringing the people to God. And King in that He is ruling and reigning forever. He has set in place the way of life and not just a way.
The church is also to be all three. Ephesians 1:23 states that the church is to be the fullness of Jesus. Ephesians 4:13 also states that as leaders we are to equip the saints to be the fullness of Christ.
So I was thinking about how this would play out in the various aspects of the vision for the church in Fort Worth. One family trait that we will be made up of is Truth. In a future post I will unpack that vision and how it looks more precisely but I want to take a quick overview of it now as it pertains to the church being prophet, priest, and king.
Through the preaching of the truth (prophet) and Christ-centered worship (prophet) will come the repentance and confession of sin. I am huge on dealing with your junk; going deep and being honest about the sins that have been committed against you - rape, abuse, neglect, etc - and the sin in your heart - lust, bitterness, unforgiveness.
Through the prophetic word of God a lot of hurt and junk and sin will be dug up. To properly care for and teach truth to all these new converts, it will take more teaching than Sunday morning can offer and good, hardcore biblical counseling and community. That will take kingly planning and authority.
The kings in the church (elders) will have to have systems and structures, and policies in place in order to properly care for and shepherd (priest) the flock.
I am big on counseling. But one problem I see with it is that most counselors are only priestly in nature, which is why you see people having to go to one for long, extended periods of time. Nothing ever really gets solved, but they get their fix. Counselors also need to be prophets - teaching truth to overcome the lies that the counselee is believing.
What must always be remembered is that truth finally dug up, sins confessed, lives transformed must never terminate on itself. It must always lead to the Truth, Jesus. It must always lead to the church being further on mission for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Complacent and Impotent
When you read the Book of Acts you see the church as a small group of people making a huge impact on their culture. Its a movement. The church in America, specifically in DFW, seems to be a huge group of people not really doing much. It seems impotent. Powerless.
If you were to ask people who attend church they probably couldn't see the difference. But when you look deeper you see complacency and comfort. Churches are very neat and pretty. Its kind of a social club. Jesus is part of the pie - an equal slice with family, work, and play.
What if Jesus was central? What if the way we did family, the way we did work, the way we played, centered around the Gospel and a bloody cross and empty tomb?
Fort Worth is growing like crazy. New developments are going up, droves of people, young and old, are moving from the suburbs back into the city. What kind of culture are they going to fall prey to? Comfort, affluence, and cool, urban life? Or, perhaps, through the transforming power of the Gospel, Christ would be worshipped AS THE WHOLE PIE, the hungry would be fed, the abused cared for, and lives would be changed.
If you were to ask people who attend church they probably couldn't see the difference. But when you look deeper you see complacency and comfort. Churches are very neat and pretty. Its kind of a social club. Jesus is part of the pie - an equal slice with family, work, and play.
What if Jesus was central? What if the way we did family, the way we did work, the way we played, centered around the Gospel and a bloody cross and empty tomb?
Fort Worth is growing like crazy. New developments are going up, droves of people, young and old, are moving from the suburbs back into the city. What kind of culture are they going to fall prey to? Comfort, affluence, and cool, urban life? Or, perhaps, through the transforming power of the Gospel, Christ would be worshipped AS THE WHOLE PIE, the hungry would be fed, the abused cared for, and lives would be changed.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Inspirations
I love the depth and meaning of the teaching of Matt Chandler and the Village Church. Read this excerpt from his blog.
What inspires you? Better yet, what stirs your affections for Christ, truth and holiness? If we can fill our lives with the things that stir our affections and avoid and flee those things that rob us of inspiration, we have a better shot at dwelling deeply. What and who inspires you? Stirs you? What presses you into holy places? What robs you of joy and vitality? What robs you of your affection for Christ and holiness?
Isnt that such a better focus to have then to make ourselves some Christian check-list that we have to follow and force our list onto others?
The focus should be on the greatness of Christ not on how great we are at morality.
How DFW got the Buckle on the Bible Belt
Check out this post from Bob Roberts Jr.
People sometimes make fun of Dallas-Fort Worth being the buckle on the Bible belt. It isn't anymore. It's unbuckled. The stats are in and church attendance is around the 17% mark - in northeast Tarrant county where I live it's probably more like 9%. We think because we see churches and some of them big that we are churched. We are not. A lot of the shelves (pews) are empty in those stores! The ones that are full are often filled with people looking for a different kind of church - not Jesus! If we were "churched" anywhere near what we were just 35 years ago at a minimum we would have to double the number of churches out here.
For some pastors that would freak them out - more competition! We need to shift our mindset from one that says "I pastor a church to reach this community . . . " to one. that says "I pastor a church to create communities of faith in this community all over." One thinks like a preacher/pastor the other a missionary/mobilizer.
We were the most wicked place on the face of the earth just a little over a hundred years ago. Downtown Fort Worth was called Hell's half acre. Gun fights, brothels, gambling, you name it - it was there and out of control. Most people didn't venture there. It was the last jumping off point till you started out west to nowhere. Godly? Not hardly.
Then, a group of Christians and pastors had enough. They became convicted and started starting churches right in the heart of Hell's half-acre - a revival began to come - Southwestern seminary came on the scene - and the rest is history. We became the Bible belt not because of our holiness, but because of our sinfulness and a sense of desperation a few people had a century ago.
It's time for us to once again have a burden for our city. There's not a greater place to live than DFW. There's not a more strategic city to live than DFW in the US, and for some reason the world.
When the passion for Jesus is gone and you have the relics of religion left over - buildings/structures/organizations - then it looses its power and becomes counter productive.
Father I pray for my city. I love my city. You love my city more. Guide my city. Pour your Spirit out over my city. Help us to love your city and serve your city like you want. I lift up all the mayors, the pastors, the businessmen, the teachers, the medical personell, the artists, government leaders, the institutions, but more than all of those domains - I lift up the people to you. May they see Jesus in our lives as we serve them in the name of Jesus and share the Good news not as a sermon, but as a transforming story that is alive, ongoing, and inclusive.
http://www.glocal.net/blog/comments/how-dfw-got-the-buckle-on-the-bible-belt/
What If?
What if there was a church that was for their city and not against it?
What if they served a God who was worthy of glory, worship, and praise and not just some neblous sky fairy who grants us three wishes if we do good?
What if there was a church who was so raw, so dirty, so honest that deep, dark stuff could finally be dug up and dealt with?
What if the men would be men and reflect the character of God and speak into that darkness and bring the light of the Gospel?
What if there was a church that wasn't a dispenser of religious goods and services but a place where iron violently sharpens iron and real community and relationships took place?
What if there was a church where women could be honest about their struggles without the judgment and criticism of other women, and where men could actually be men and rather being passive, impotent, and fearful of failure or brash, immature, insecure, sex freaks, they could lead, cultivate, build, redeem, and create?
Where depth is more important then width?
Where love isn't flowery, fake, and surface level, but gritty, real, and deep?
Where biblical spirituality is actually flows to our hearts, hands, and feet and is not just in our head?
Where money is used to love people instead of using people to get money?
Where the Bible is taught, read, and used to reveal the immutable, unmatching, marvelous light of the glory of God and not weird, self-help, road map to life?
Where the revitalization and growth of Fort Worth is greatly influenced by the Gospel of Jesus for the transformation of lives to the glory of God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit?
What if?
What if they served a God who was worthy of glory, worship, and praise and not just some neblous sky fairy who grants us three wishes if we do good?
What if there was a church who was so raw, so dirty, so honest that deep, dark stuff could finally be dug up and dealt with?
What if the men would be men and reflect the character of God and speak into that darkness and bring the light of the Gospel?
What if there was a church that wasn't a dispenser of religious goods and services but a place where iron violently sharpens iron and real community and relationships took place?
What if there was a church where women could be honest about their struggles without the judgment and criticism of other women, and where men could actually be men and rather being passive, impotent, and fearful of failure or brash, immature, insecure, sex freaks, they could lead, cultivate, build, redeem, and create?
Where depth is more important then width?
Where love isn't flowery, fake, and surface level, but gritty, real, and deep?
Where biblical spirituality is actually flows to our hearts, hands, and feet and is not just in our head?
Where money is used to love people instead of using people to get money?
Where the Bible is taught, read, and used to reveal the immutable, unmatching, marvelous light of the glory of God and not weird, self-help, road map to life?
Where the revitalization and growth of Fort Worth is greatly influenced by the Gospel of Jesus for the transformation of lives to the glory of God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit?
What if?
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