Gospel Project 1: When God Doesn’t Live up to My Plans
We all know the story of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. They refused to worship the false gods of Babylon, and, having been rated out by the Chaldeans, King Nebuchadnezzar questions them: “Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
Notice their response: “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’” (Daniel 3:16-18)
It’s easy to worship the living and true God when things are going well. As a pastor, my perception of my own holiness is far too closely linked to my performance. Last Sunday I preached reasonably well (an act of God in and of itself, but of course I take the credit), and I have been coasting through the week on the high that comes as a result.
Today was the day when I got taken down a notch. Or 50.
I’m in a period of transition now, looking to see what God has in store for my future. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been waiting to hear about a ministry opportunity. It seemed like a good fit, and I’ve been waiting to hear about the when and where, thinking it was more or less a done deal. Today that opportunity was taken completely off the table.
To say I was stunned would be an understatement. That was my fall-back plan, and it just fell through. I’m 55 days away from my final pay check, and–at the moment–I have no real options.
I’m tempted to be angry, thinking I deserve better. I’m tempted to panic. I’m tempted to call everyone I know and try to scare up a few opportunities; it would make me feel better to at least have some options on the table. My impulse is to try to make something happen.
But my mind is drawn–clearly by the Holy Spirit, since I’m incapable of getting myself to this state at present–to the words of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, facing death in a fiery furnace: God is able to provide for me, but even if he doesn’t, I will trust in no one else.”
This is what the gospel calls us to. Sometimes we sing triumphantly–”Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me“–other times we defeatedly whimper–”Lord, to whom [else] shall we go? You [alone] have the words of eternal life”. Either way, it is God’s presence with us, not our performance–or lack thereof–that is essential.
The difficult times are crucial, because they force me to come to question what I am truly holding on to. Do I want God because he is true and perfect and merciful? Or do I just want him to fix my life for me and then leave me alone? If things never get any better–if I have to get a job a Starbucks–do I still want God, or am I only content when I can be doing something “significant” for him?
It occurs to me that in my wedding vows–as in yours, presumably–I promised to be faithful “from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part.” I made that promise on what was probably the happiest day of my life, and yet it was an acknowledgement that life would likely get worse. Yet Ashley’s presence with me in the hard times is far better than being alone in the good times, so we have pledged ourselves to each other.
I would not think of forsaking that promise should I still be in need of employment 2 months from now. Why then does my faith in the one whose grip on me cannot be loosened even by death waver?
Clearly I have not forgotten the depth of love God has shown me in Christ. When the option was his people and death on the cross or his own comfort, he chose us. Even when there are no options open to me, there are no better offers on the table than his presence with me.
May God grant me the faith of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, to know that God is able of providing for me, but even if he doesn’t, it is far better to be with him despite the cost than to be safe and alone.
The Gospel Project
One of the things that came out of our time at the Church Planting Assessment Center is that I need to work on the gospel-application portion of my sermons. I don’t have much problem explaining what the gospel is, but applying it to the experiential aspects of our lives in a way that causes us to worship is another matter.
So in order to work on this, I’m creating a month-long gospel project for myself (I had meant to start at the beginning of the month, but it came and went without my permission). Every day for a month I’m going to write a short (or maybe long) “thing” about the gospel. I’m not really sure what form this will take. It will probably include many different approaches, from explaining a passage of Scripture to a more apologetic approach. But the goal in every case is to connect the gospel with the heart-issues of broken people like myself.
I have no idea if I’ll be able to pull this off. And I have no ideas waiting in the wings to start of with. So we’ll see how it goes. This is really a project to stretch and develop my preaching, and I suppose failing at it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
So, with that in mind, The Gospel Project begins tomorrow…
Update March 8:Ok, so I’m clearly not going to be able to keep up with this everyday posting thing, but I’m going to keep working on this project. My new goal is to post every other day.
C. S. Lewis on the Modern Mindset
Here’s a quote from C. S. Lewis that seems to explain the contemporary view of reality. In opposition to those who say that belief in the supernatural (”magic”) has been supplanted by science, Lewis, an expert in the the medieval age, explains that belief in magic and science actually developed at the same time (towards the end of the Middle Ages).
There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the “wisdom” of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious… — C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, quoted in Tim Keller, The Reason for God.
Reading Tim Keller’s new book, The Reason for God, (of which I shall write more later) I came across the following enlightening quote:
“Christianity is the religion of over two thousand different language groups in the world. More peple pray and worship in more languages that in any other religion in the world…. Obviously these facts of cultural and linguistic pioneering conflict with the reputation of Christianity as one colossal act of cultural intolerance.This has produced a deep Christendom guilt complex, against which all evidence seems unavailing. It is important, however, to get people to budge, because the default Christianity they now practice is a worn-out cultural fragment of something much greater and fresher.” Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity?, pp. 69-70.
Religion in America
Al Mohler comments on a massive study by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life on Americans’ religious affiliation. The results have huge implications for the way in which the church carried out its mission in the culture.
Three things I find particularly interesting: 1) the study shows that Protestants no longer possess a majority status, and 2) a significant portion of the population have changed their religious affiliation at least once in their lives, and 3) many who have changed religions, and over a quarter of 18-29 years olds claim no religious affiliation.
Taken together, these three facts show that the church must radically alter its approach to mission. Simply trying to attract people who are already members of our tribe was never biblical; now it’s not even practical. However, people’s openness to change religious affiliation–combined with results of another study which found that “78 percent of [people] said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to talk about their Christian beliefs” (”The number rose to 89 percent among adults 18-29 years of age”)–should present a tremendous opportunity. Mission and evangelism will have to be much more relational and organic than the way we have typically approached it.
Things I Learned at Church Planter Assessment
Last week Ashley and I were at the PCA Church Planting Assessment Center. Altogether, it was a great, exhausting, and immensely helpful experience. We learned a lot about ourselves, about church planting, and began what I hope will be a few lasting relationships.
As a way of processing the whole experience, and to ensure that I don’t forget the things I learned, I thought I’d enumerate here the lessons learned at Assessment (I may add to or edit some of these as I continue to process(…
- Self-awareness is critical. Knowing who I am, my strengths and weaknesses–especially as a pastor–is absolutely essential. I think I am–and the assessment confirmed this–pretty good at this. Still, I learned a lot about myself. In particular, I saw very clearly the connection between between the weaknesses of my character and their practical outworking in my weaknesses as a leader. My desire to plan and my perfectionist tendency combine to make me come across as cold or condescending in a group setting.
- Due to my desire to formulate a plan in light of “all the facts”, I am often indecisive as a leader. While there is an obvious benefit to this, at times I just need to act.
- Because I like to collect information, and because I tend towards being a perfectionist, I often feel less-prepared than I really am.
- My preaching may lead people to think “he is right”, but it needs to lead people to worship. I desperately need to work on this.
- My practice of evangelism (lack thereof, really) is pathetic. I guess I didn’t really learn this, since it’s pretty obvious. Still, not good.
- I have a natural ability to envision and enact a plan.
Pastor’s Job Description
In reading Lesslie Newbigin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, I came across the following quote that, in my opinion, succinctly summarizes the pastor’s job:
The task of ministry is to lead the congregation as a whole in a mission to the community as a whole, to claim its whole public life, as well as the personal lives of all its people, for God’s rule. It means equipping all members of the congregation to understand and fulfill their several roles in this mission through their faithfulness in their daily work. It means training and equipping them to be active followers of Jesus in his assault on the principalities and powers which he has disarmed on his cross. And it means sustaining them in bearing the cost of that warfare.
N.T. Wright on Heaven
Much of “traditional” Christianity gives the impression that God has these rather arbitrary rules about how you have to behave, and if you disobey them you go to hell, rather than to heaven. What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won’t be going up there to him, he’ll be coming down here.
N.T. Wright, interviewed in TIME Magazine. I just got Wright’s new book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, in the mail. I can’t wait to dive in to it.
Breaking Election News
- 1 Comment » - Posted by Bryce on February, 7 at 10:34 pmThis just in…No matter who wins the election, Jesus will still be King.
Just thought a little perspective would be helpful.
The Long-Awaited NT Wright Interview
Tags: Justification, New Perspective, NT Wright - No Comments » - Posted by Bryce on January, 16 at 8:14 pmNT Wright is an insightful and somewhat controversial New Testament scholar. His views on the so-called New Perspective on Paul, and its implications for the doctrine of justification, have drawn criticism from many circles. At the same time, however, many thoroughly orthodox pastors and theologians have found Wright’s writings to be a breath of fresh air.
In all the debate surrounding his views, it seems like it has taken way to long for some basic questions to be asked and answered. I have no idea why it has taken so long to for someone to simply ask him some very basic questions, but Trevin Wax finally did:
Trevin Wax: You have said in many of your books that justification is not how one becomes a Christian but a declaration that one is a Christian. What language do you use to explain how one becomes a Christian?
N.T. Wright: Let’s be clear about this because many Christians in the evangelical tradition use words like “conversion,” “regeneration,” “justification,” “born-again,” etc. all as more or less synonyms to mean “becoming a Christian from cold.” In the classic Reformed tradition, the word “justification” is much more fine-tuned than that and has to do with a verdict which is pronounced, rather than with something happening to you in terms of actually being born again. So that I’m actually much closer to some classic Reformed writing on this than some people perhaps realize.
Let me put it like this. In Paul (and this is really a Pauline conversation, after all), what happens is that the word of the gospel is announced. That is to say, Jesus Christ is proclaimed – one-on-one or in a large meeting or out on the street or whatever, and even though that message is crazy (and Paul knows it’s crazy; he says it’s folly to Gentiles and a scandal to Jews), some people find that it grabs them and they believe it. This is bizarre. I shouldn’t be believing this. A dead man got raised from the dead and he’s the Lord of the world. I really shouldn’t believe this, but it does make sense. And it finds me and I can feel it changing me. Paul’s analysis of that is that this is the power of the word (he has a strong theology of the word), and another equal way of saying it for Paul is that this is the Holy Spirit working through the gospel. He says, no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Spirit is the One who through the Word does the work of grace which is the transformative thing, and the first sign of that new life is faith.
Now then, the point of justification is not God making you right. The irony is that some of my critics at this point have accused me of a sort of semi-Pelagianism. But that’s precisely what I think I’m not doing. The verdict of justification is God saying over faith, “This really is my beloved child.”
Now part of the difficulty we face is that because different Christian traditions have used the word “justification” to denote either different stages within that process or sometimes the whole process itself. (Hans Kung’s book on justification is really a book on how to be a Christian from start to finish. And so for him, justification means the entire process: from being a total pagan to being a finally saved Christian, and that’s really not helpful in Pauline terms, but there’s been a lot of slippage.) So when people say, “he says that justification is this, but I’ve always thought it was that” it’s probably because we’re denoting a different point in the process.
My only agenda here is to be as close as I can possibly get to what Paul actually says. And I really don’t care too much what the different later Christian traditions say. My aim is to be faithful to Scripture here.
Read the whole interview here.
To summarize…
What is the gospel? The declaration that Christ is lord.
What is justification? The declaration that a person is in the right as far as God is concerned. This is God’s future verdict, which is brought forward into the present.
How does a person become a Christian? By responding to the proclamation of the gospel with faith. But, technically speaking, this is not the same thing as justification, which is God’s declaration.I haven’t read any of Wright’s academic works or his works on the NPP, so I may be missing something, but all that he says in this interview sounds pretty darn orthodox to me.
