Question for preachers.

Why do preachers try to motivate our obedience with God’s blessings rather than love for God and the beauty of Christ? It deeply troubles me when I hear someone say, “You want God’s best don’t you?” and then follows up with a list of items we need to fulfill so that we can put ourselves in the proper place for God’s blessing. Of course they always come up with some bible verse taken out of proper context to backup their claim. Do they motivate this way because they actually believe it or is something more pragmatic at play? We need to get or keep our people doing and giving so we need to wave the carrot of blessing/success in front of them at all times. This is exactly how you would motivate someone who is not regenerated. People always love a good business deal. Just package God in a favorable way and you will grow a nice following.

What if instead we preached the glory of Christ and men and women were regenerated? Could we then stop using  the carrot of blessing to get people moving and giving?  Preachers what say you? Am I naive to think that preaching Jesus as our great reward and motivation is just too radical a notion?

Ecumenical wanderings.

Anyone that knows me well would probably agree that I am somewhat of a theological mutt. I am reformed in theology as well as charismatic. While not as unique a position as it once was it is still somewhat rare in the community in which I work in live. Because I am somewhat a “mutt” in my beliefs I rub shoulders with Christians from different traditions. I have friends that are “Word of Faith”, “Pentecostal”, “Baptist” , “Reformed Cessationist, “Reformed  Non-Cessationist” and all over the eschatology map. I also have recently benefited from Lutheran Theology. To further complicate things I along with my family have started attending a new church while still attending our previous one. The decision to add another church to my already swirling “theology-mutt self” would seem to most a bit much, only time will tell.

What I have learned in my wanderings between churches and the various theologies is that Jesus can be found or missed in any of the traditions. We can get so wrapped up on our distinctive’s that we forget what we have in common. Jesus, His cross and the fact that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit love us passionately , and that God is more to be desired than all this life can offer.  We can take ideas of  ”relevance”, “excellence”, “prosperity”,  ”leadership building” , “life transformation”, “expositional preaching”  or even my beloved “reformed theology” to the point that we have relegated Jesus and his cross to a secondary issue. A term that I came across is “Jesus shaped spirituality” at IMonk.com has really been helpful as I journey with other worshipers of Jesus. I highly recommend his blog post, it describes where I am going much better than I can.

My thinking has undergone a fundamental change when it comes to “The Church” as apposed to “a church”  Going from a “place” view of church to a “people view” is needed and wont be a easy journey for any of us, but its something we should strive for. We will probably have our differences in theology until our Lord returns, whenever that might be! But until then, let’s be gracious to each other and respectful even to those on the opposite side of the Christian spectrum. It makes Jesus look good, and that should be important to all of us.

Thank you Michael Spencer for this post! A marvelous post on the proper place of law and gospel in preaching.

A forgiven gospel eye

“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
(Luke 6:39-42 ESV)

The blind man is the the man without the gospel. If he tries to correct sin without first applying the gospel to his own life he will only make matters worse for himself and for others. Only when we apply the gospel to our own lives and find joy and fellowship with Jesus will we have the correct motives and power to help remove the speck from our brothers eye. With a forgiven gospel eye we become gracious worshipers of Jesus and friends of sinners.

Lesson outline for March 22, 2009
Suffering, It’s all about Jesus

Saved by following the instructions

Coming to God as consumers saved by following the instructions on the product label rather than sinners saved by grace is not only the essence of human sin, it does not even deliver on its promise of liberation. – Michael Horton “Christless Christianity”

If the message the church proclaims makes sense without conversion

If the message the church proclaims makes sense without conversion, if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel. - Michael Horton

Our condition is hopeless

Without the new birth, our condition is hopeless, and we cannot fix it with moral improvement. Dead men don’t do better. Dead men need one thing before anything else can happen. They must be made alive. They must be born again. – John Piper “Finally Alive”

Without Jesus does it still make sense?

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
(1Corinthians 15:19 ESV)

Some questions for the Church, myself included.

If Jesus had not lived, died and been resurrected, does the sermon, teaching and song still hold together? Would the small group you lead still be meaningful? If the person and work of Jesus is not the main theme what do we have? If Christ is not raised does the whole thing we are doing fall flat? And If it holds together without Christ is that acceptable? We have built on something other than Jesus and it will not stand nor should it. Paul says that if Christianity is not true his whole life is a waste. Can we say that about what we are doing? This is how we know if something is Christ centered, can it exist without Him? If it can, we should think hard about what we are doing.

Optimistic about the future

I have been thinking today that I am optimistic about the future. Not because I am one of the “glass half full” types, I am pessimistic by nature, or as I like to say “a optimist beaten by the reality stick”. My grounds for optimism is not in my ability or goodness, nor is it based on other peoples ability or goodness. I am not optimistic because of my current situation, that changes too quickly to ever place much trust in. I sin, people sin against me, and situations sometimes go very very bad.

So why do I have a bright outlook for the future? Because God is good and He is sovereign. When he says that he is working all things for my good I believe He is telling me the truth. I am not trying to sound chipper and act like this is an easy task. In fact, it is absolutely impossible for me in those dark moments of pain and doubt. But God who is rich in mercy lets me see His face and the darkness and fog slowly starts to lift. I am optimistic about the future only because of who God is and what Jesus has accomplished. I fail, people fail, the church fails, but Jesus and His gospel are always more than enough.