Free to Serve

When We are Mocked for Faith in God

This past week, CNN posted a video poking fun of creationists. For just under three minutes a young man dressed as a Mormon drives through universe in a white minivan with the words, “Creationist Baptist Church,” emblazoned on the side. Wheeling his way through the cosmos, he makes weighty theological points with a quirky smile: 

        o   Black holes don’t exist because they can’t be found in the Holy Bible.

        o   One shouldn’t ask why God made anything, since that would be irreverent.

        o   Fossils were put on earth by Satan to trick us.

You get the point. Mocking creationists is a good way to a quick laugh, and it looks like CNN thinks anti-creationist comedy will promote Internet traffic. The last thing Christians need to do is fret over the public lampooning of their faith. After all, faith in God has existed since creation, so it’s got a pretty good track record. 

Everyday evangelism

Doctors are encouraged when they correctly diagnosis a patient. Lawyers are encouraged when they find just the right precedent. Plumbers are encouraged when they have all the necessary parts needed to fix the drain. Athletes are encouraged when they place in the race. 

What encourages pastors? TONS of things! I'm encouraged when I hear how people are trusting in Christ through the fire. I'm encouraged to see church members fold newcomers into their lives. I'm encouraged when believers sacrifice of their time and money to take a short-term missions trip. I'm encouraged when a dad tells me he's started reading the Bible faithfully to his kids. I'm encouraged when people ask me specific questions about a sermon (it means they were listening!). I'm encouraged by so many things.

But what encourages me most? Truth be told, the answer to this question may change from day to day. But today, I'm most encouraged when I see people strategize different ways to share the gospel with people in their lives. Maybe they are looking to have a neighbor over for dinner. They might be praying about having a hard conversation with a parent. They may be studying hard to learn how to lead an evangelistic Bible study in their home.

When Christians live this way, it must be due to the fact that God is real and His gospel is precious to them. They have decided not to leave the evangelism up to Sunday morning preacher, or the gifted evangelist, but they've simply taken it upon themsleves to be salt and light wherever they are. There is nothing particularly radical about this life--it's simply being a normal Christian sharing a beautiful Word in a hostile world. 

New Student Missions Conference

In December of 2013, a new student missions conference will be launched. Check out the website here. Read the vision statement below. It's a good one.

Over the past few years several pastors and church leaders, quite independently from each other, began to feel a burden for a new student missions conference that would trumpet the global majesty of God’s sovereign grace, the gospel passion of Christ to rescue people from eternal suffering, and the remaining task of planting the church among the unreached and unengaged peoples of the world.

The Cross Leadership Team is the result of this burden and vision. From different backgrounds and with different ministry experiences we have come together for this purpose. We are not a church. We are not a new campus ministry. We are not an offshoot of any existing ministry, as thankful as we are for so many likeminded movements and organizations. Our aim is simpler and more focused: We want to host a conference that, we pray, may be used of God to mobilize students in the cause of frontier missions for the global glory of Jesus Christ. That’s our passion our purpose.

Signed: Kevin DeYoung, Mack Stiles, David Platt, David Sitton, Thabiti Anyabwile, John Piper, and Zane Pratt.

 

Ramadan begins July 20

Ramadan goes from July 20 through August 18. For this month Muslims fast from food and water during the daylight hours (and typically feast when the sun goes down). Fasting is the fourth pillar of Muslim worship. The entire community is to engage in this discipline together. In the month of Ramadan attendance at mosques increases as Muslims commemorate the start of Muhammad's ministry.

It should be no surprise that many secular Muslims also celebrate Ramadan (much the way secular Christians celebrate Easter). For them the holiday has little or nothing to do with faith and everything to do with preserving a cultural heritage.

Christians should know that our Muslim neighbors are celebrating Ramadan. We should take this opportunity to pray that Muslims would turn to Jesus Christ. For help praying, go here. Let's look for opportunities to engage Muslims in conversation this month. Their attention to Ramadan is an opportunity for us to speak to them about the Gospel.

 

Speaking to Churches About International Missions

For the fourth year in a row, 9Marks hosted an hour long conversation during the SBC. This Monday night, Mark Dever, a pastor in Washington, DC (and my former pastor) interviewed pastor David Platt, seminary professor Zane Pratt (and former IMB missionary), and IMB president Tom Ellif (IMB stands for “International Mission Board,” the sending agency of the Southern Baptist Convention). 

The conversation was instructive for pastors and churches alike. Here are seven main points that I took away from this time. Each is an application addressed to a local church. Every member of the panel sought to emphasize the primary role churches play in fulfilling the Great Commission. 

1. Get the gospel right. The first and most important thing that pastors and churches can do to encourage international missions is to get the gospel right. Tom Ellif mentioned that, sadly, it is not uncommon for a potential missionary to be unable to articulate the gospel. Thankfully, the IMB training is rigorous, but those interested in serving overseas (or anywhere for that matter) should know the gospel inside and out. 

2. Take responsibility for international missions. Too often churches expect missions sending agencies (like the IMB) to bear the full-weight of the burden of reaching the lost. But the Great Commission belongs to the churches. Therefore local churches ought to be strategizing how to support the work of international missions.

3. Demand expositional sermons. Ellif pointed out again and again to the responsibility of churches to train people to know, love, and teach the Word of God. Their best missionaries are those who spent years as members of churches where the Word was regularly and clearly taught from the pulpit. 

4. Focus on long-term partnerships. Short-term trips can help one better understand global needs. They can ignite a passion for missions. They can sometimes be of help to the full-time missionaries serving on the ground. But local churches should place greater emphasis on developing long-term partnerships. Even short-term trips ought to focus on how the sending church can be a long-term encouragement to the work they are seeking to encourage. 

5. Take the lead in nurturing, training, and even screening potential missionaries. Zane Pratt mentioned that one of the hardest things he had to do when he served as a regional director overseas was to send missionaries home when they were no longer qualified to serve. This was especially hard when the missionary had no significant connection to a stateside local church. Missions sending agencies like the IMB go to great lengths to screen workers to make sure that they are qualified, but it is the churches who ought to take the lead nurturing, training, and screening potential missionaries.

6. Make sure every member is pursuing spiritual disciplines. Most missionaries come from the membership of a local church. They reach the mission field with a love for the lost and a desire to share the gospel. But too many have insufficient knowledge or experience actually pursuing God in bible study, prayer, fasting, etc. Churches, therefore, should not assume that their members are well-trained in these areas. We shouldn’t be surprised that candidates for ministry in international missions are unlikely to be spiritually deeper than the churches they have called home.

7. Ask your senior pastor to take the lead. It is easy for preaching pastors to leave the missions work to other staff or interested lay leaders in the body. However the task is so challenging and the needs are so great that pastors cannot afford to be bystanders. They need to be on the front lines, leading their churches to see the need for workers, strategizing how to meet those needs, and personally raising up godly believers to participate in global evangelization.

 

The Most Indulged Generation

A few years ago, I had the privilege of hearing members of The Greatest Generation speak about their service in World War II. One of the men stood up and said, "Well, we really aren't the greatest generation, we just did what we had to do. The real heroes were left behind." Of course he's right, but looking back at that era, I don't think Brokaw was wrong to keep the title, "The Greatest Generation." Though our Allies would have liked America to enter the war sooner, the fact remains that when the United States engaged after Pearl Harbor, we flew in with a full head of steam. The entire nation made sacrifices to make the war effort possible. 

I'd like to see a generation rise up with a similar vision to sacrifice themselves for something noble, grand, and greater than themselves. I'd like to see a generation of believers willing to spend prudently, live sacrificially, pray fervently, preach boldly, and travel broadly to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ in the cozy confines of backyard cookouts as well as in the steaming heat of a Central Asian marketplace.

My thoughts in this direction were recently stirred by a booklet put together by Ed Moll and Tim Chester, Gospel-Centered Family: Becoming the Parents God Wants You to Be. Listen to Moll and Chester:

So being a gospel-centered family is about what you do 'inside' your family, but it's a whole lot more than that. A family that's turned inwards is not a gospel-centered family. The gospel is good news. It's a message we share with others, beginning with our neighbours and extending to the ends of the earth (Acts 1 v 8).

I love how they put that. It is easy for families to be sound doctrinally, consistent in family worship, regular at church, but lacking a burning desire to see the lost around them confronted by the good news of Christ. Certainly a family that is striving to make Christ the center of it all will be outward focused.

Moll and Chester argue that we are not helping inculcate in our children the understanding that we are here to make the good news known. They insist that many parents are so prone to build their lives around their children that their children conclude they must be the center of it all, not Jesus. And, as a result, Moll and Chester insist, "In the west we are perhaps creating one of the most indulged generations ever."

This is something worth thinking about. What is the tone, the tenor of our families, of ourselves? Are we reminding our kids of the opportunity they have to live for the sake of others--whethey they become doctors, lawyers, plumbers, or stay-at-home moms? Are we reminding ourselves that the Great Commission is for us? Or, are we contributing toward the creation of The Most Indulged Generation?

Every Member a Missionary

A good portion of my life is devoted to evangelism, both personally and from the pulpit. I want unbelievers to hear the gospel. We should be in awe of a God who saves. But the sad reality is that many believers are so ill-equipped to share the gospel, so scared to be rebuffed, or just so busy with themselves that they never get around to evangelism.

Not only that, we manage to live without a sense of the plight of the unbeliever. I was recently talking to a case worker for Georgia's Family and Children's Services Division. I mentioned how difficult it must be doing what she did, and I thanked her for her service. She said that most people don't like to know the things she knows, and they certainly don't want to see it. They just sort of cover their eyes and close their ears and pretend children aren't being abandoned.

Isn't that how we can be about the lost? We know that eternal separation from God awaits, but maybe we don't know what to do, we don't know how to help, and so we cover our eyes and do nothing. 

That's not good.

Missions and evangelism are central to the mission of the church. Here are four things that should be clear in the mind of every believer when it comes to missions. These four things are not all we need to know, but it serves as a place to start the conversation. I pray that as you read it, you will be made aware of ways that you can grow both in your love for the lost, and how you can begin to speak the gospel to family, friends, and even people on the other side of the earth.

Kimyal Bible

This went around the blogosphere a couple of years ago. It has come up again. I just saw it for the first time. Seeing the Kimyal people delighting in the reception of the New Testament in their own langauage brings Psalm 119 to life, "Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight" (v. 77).

HT: Eden Hutchins, Paul Wood!!

 

Ambassadors for Christ

I had the privilege last week of speaking to the staff of Ambassadors for Christ who were on retreat in the Atlanta area. Former member and friend of MVBC, Wallace Francis, put the retreat together. The highlight for me was conversations with numerous folks who have devoted their lives to sharing the Good News. They are eager to be theologically sound, and they are committed to sharing the Gospel wherever and whenever they can.

My message was entitled, "You Pick: Emergent, Emerging, or Enduring?" I talked about some different methods of "doing" church in the twenty-first century. However we go about engaging in church ministry, our goal has to be to protect the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Some churches try to change the Gospel to meet the times. This is the Emergent movement. They insist that as the culture changes the Gospel changes. They argue that the Gospel is a story, not a declaration. Stories can (and must) be changed to fit the context. As our culture is more diversified, the Gospel message needs to be diversified as well--so they say. The problem with this approach is that the Gospel is a declaration. There is no way around it! It is true yesterday and it is true today: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners through a cross.

Some churches ignore the Gospel to meet the times. Such churches would not say that the Gospel changes, but you get the sense that they don't pay much attention to the Gospel. It is assumed more than anything. It may be offered in a private counseling session or a Christmas Eve service, but the Gospel just isn't part of the fabric of the church. It isn't everywhere. The reasons why churches ignore the Gospel are legion and different. Some do it because they don't want to be offensive to seekers. Others do it because they don't think a specific message about the cross is necessary for salvation. Others don't intend to ignore the Gospel, it just sort of happened--other stuff got in the way.

Finally, some churches eclipse the Gospel. Churches like this may very well be Gospel-centered and yet, one can't help but get the impression that other things are more important--a style of music or dress or target audience. The packaging of the church has a way of taking center stage. Sometimes, when you get really dressed up, all people can do is think of what you are wearing, they don't actually get to know you. It can be like that with churches. There is a lot of good content here, but the conversation so quickly moves to context (where the church is, how the music sounds, how good the preacher is) that the Gospel is just sort of eclipsed.

So, at MVBC, we need to be careful. Of course we don't want to change the Gospel--that is to abandon the faith altogether. We certainly don't want to ignore the Gospel. The damage would be nearly as bad as changing it. A good Gospel, ignored, is really no Gospel at all. Finally, we need to be careful not to focus so much on demographics or style in such a way that our focus on the Gospel is diminished.

The missionaries of Ambassadors for Christ have a real heart for the local church. They want to see the people they witness come to know Christ as Savior plugged into a church. My prayer has been that my comments would encourage them to stay personally involved in a church while understanding some of the dangers methods of ministry pose today.

Marks of the Messenger

We had a great weekend with Mack Stiles. He shared with us what it is like being in Dubai and serving as an elder at Redeemer Church. Mack always brings with him a love for people. I couldn't get him to the main service on time because he wanted to talk to everyone we passed. What a great example! 

If you haven't, please take the time to buy and read his book, Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel. Mack challenges to make the Gospel clear and to share it with great boldness. He put it this way:

Finally, we need boldness to invite response to the message once we've presented it fully. This is overcoming the fear of rejection.

Perhaps you have been studying the Gospel of Mark with a non-Christian friend. There comes a point when you need boldness to say, "You know, I think that this is an urgent matter in your life. I think that you understand the gospel, and really what is left is for you to place your complete faith and trust in Christ. What is stopping you from doing that?"

We tend to hate putting people on the spot, but the gospel is not really the gospel without letting people know that a response is required.

So remember: to be healthy evangelists requires boldness that overcomes the fear of man by replacing it with the fear of God. Healthy evangelism is cultivated by exposing our faith to others, by anticipating how to be bold in our conversations and by being willing to invite a response to the message.