Recently in The Gospel and Postmodernism Category
No one has challenged my thinking on the gospel and life quite like Tim Keller has the past few years. I am extremely thankful to God for Tim’s writing and preaching ministry. Below are the first few paragraphs from several of his most recent Vision Campaign articles. Just click on each article title if you want to read the article in its entirety.
Article One: THE GOSPEL: KEY TO CHANGE
The Greek term “gospel” (ev-angelion) distinguished the Christian message from that of other religions. An 'ev-angel' was news of a great historical event, such as a victory in war or the ascension of a new king, that changed the listeners’ condition and required a response from the listener. So the gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God. What is this news?
God has entered the world in Jesus Christ to achieve a salvation that we could not achieve for ourselves which now 1) converts and transforms individuals, forming them into a new humanity, and eventually 2) will renew the whole world and all creation. This is the ‘good news’—the gospel. And it is good news in three important ways…
Article Two: THE CITY: WHY WE’RE HERE
Fundamental to Redeemer’s vision is the belief that there is no better place for Christians to live, work, serve, and spend their lives and resources than in the city. Why?
The gospel originally grew in and through the city. The Pax Romana (27BC-180AD) led to the growth of the first multi-ethnic, global cities. Travel was easier than it ever had been and ever would be again until the 19th century. Nationalities that had been at war with one another were now at ‘peace’ under the iron rule of Rome. Cities became multi-cultural and the hub of international networks of capital and information—essentially, city-states. For example, Antioch was really a United Nations, with a Asian, African, Jewish, Greek, and Roman sections. Capital and culture flowed back and forth from Antioch to three continents through urban-based networks…
Article Three: BUILDINGS FOR COMMUNITY
The cruciality of community
On the night before his death (John 13ff), Jesus said that the purpose of his death was to form a new community. His disciples were to become a new humanity which was to be a 'demonstration plot' of the kingdom of God. In their relationships to one another, and in the way they related together to the rest of the world, they were to be a sign that Jesus is the Lord who is going to redeem all of creation. Christian community is a comprehensive and distinct way to be human in
deep relationship with others who have been transformed by the gospel.
The quality of our community is the real secret of Christian mission. When those outside see exceptional community it convinces them of the truth of Jesus' message, and it attracts them personally toward joining those who follow him. In John 17:23 Jesus says that via Christians’ loving unity 'the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved me.'
In addition, the quality of our community is the real secret of Christian growth…
Article Four: WHY NEW CHURCHES?
Church planting lies at the foundation of Redeemer’s vision. Why?
1. Christ-formation in an individual happens best not through programs, but through a local church. Evangelism aims to get people to make a decision to follow Christ. Experience, however, shows us that many of these 'decisions' disappear and never result in changed lives. Why? Many decisions are not really thorough spiritual conversions, but often only the beginning of a journey of seeking God. (Other decisions are very definitely the moment of a 'new birth,' but this differs from person to person.) Many people come to full faith through a process of mini-decisions. Only a person who is hearing the gospel in the context of an on-going worshipping and shepherding community can be sure of finally coming home into vital, saving faith…
Article Five: THE FULLNESS OF MINISTRY
From Redeemer’s understanding of the gospel and commitment to the city (paper’s #1 and #2) flows an unusually balanced and full understanding of the ministry of every local congregation. We call them the Five Ministry Fronts. It is difficult to stay equally engaged along each of these fronts, but we believe that we must stay committed to all five or we will become unbalanced.
1. Churches must be “outward facing.” First, churches must be highly effective in helping skeptical and secular people to find faith. It is not enough to only reach already conservative and traditional-minded people. The gospel (unlike religious moralism) produces people who do not disdain those who disagree with them. Rather than simply confront those who disbelieve, the gospel leads us to sympathetically, but effectively, find ways to answer secular cultural hopes and aspirations with Christ and his saving work…
Article Six: CHRISTIANS AND CULTURE
A society’s ‘culture’ is a set of shared practices, attitudes, values, and beliefs which are rooted in common understandings of ‘the big questions’—where life comes from, what life means, who we are, and what is important to spend our time doing in the years allotted to us. No one can live without some assumed answers to these questions, and every set of answers shapes culture:
• the way we treat the material world,
• the way we relate the individual to the group and family,
• the way groups and classes relate to one another,
• the way we handle sex, money, and power,
• the way we make decisions and set priorities, and the way we regard death, time, art, government, and physical space…
Article Seven: Creation, Fall, Redemption—and Your Money
The Bible sees the history of the world in four stages—1) Creation by God, 2) Fall into sin, 3) Redemption through Christ, and 4) Final Restoration--the new heaven and new earth. But creation-fall-redemption-restoration are not just discrete stages in time, they are also different aspects of present reality. Put another way, when we look at any object in this world, we know three things about it:
• First, it is part of God’s good creation, yet,
• Second, it is fallen and affected by sin—distorted somehow, broken, falling short of its original
purpose. But,
• Third, it is being, and can be, redeemed. The purpose of God is to wipe all creation clean of all
the effects of sin until it is all restored to wholeness, beauty, and glory. This is the basis of the Christian worldview. If you miss any these three perspectives, you have a distorted view of reality…
FIRST-PERSON: Reflections from a younger leader
By Ed Stetzer
Nov 9, 2005
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Lots of people have been thinking, speaking and blogging about the whole “young leader thing.” I’ve done my fair share -- although speaking for young leaders is probably not a wise long-term strategy for a guy just 10 months away from turning 40.
Some have advocated convention change in how we affirm diverse and biblically sound strategies and how we do missional ministry together. Many have rightfully said that it is time for Southern Baptists to accept the fact that many of our best and brightest don’t wear suits, don’t use a hymnal, and have different methodologies than most of our existing churches. But the Lord also has spoken to my heart about how I, as a contemporary church pastor, need to change and learn as well.
In the foreword to my recent book ("Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church" with Elmer Towns), Paige Patterson calls me a “son of the contemporary church.” He’s right. I’ve never planted or served as pastor of a church that was not contemporary, and God continues to place me in settings where that is our chosen ministry approach.
But, in all this talk about change, it is important to have some discernment as many young (and not so young) SBC leaders plant or transition to contemporary models. I am not talking about preaching against innovation or “smarmy” comments about worship bands. That is hurting our convention and squelching the conversation. But, I have learned along the way that:
-- Theology matters and can’t be assumed.
Unlike most SBC pastors, I wasn’t raised or redeemed in a Baptist church. I was raised nominally Catholic and came to Christ in a denomination that drifted away from the Gospel. All this talk about “broadening the tent” does not appeal to me. Been there, done that, seen the compromise that follows. If young leaders are not serious about theology, preaching and cooperation, then this denomination is not the place for them. As I wrote in SBC Life (Feb. 2003), doctrine matters to missions -- and it matters when we seek to be “missional” as well. I’ve learned that we need to constantly talk, think and learn better theology.
-- Preaching is more than retelling biblical principles.
I’ve preached a lot of sermons that were more about my opinions than God’s Word. Sure, they were based on biblical principles (“love your wife,” “don’t worry,” “work hard”) but not grounded in the biblical story of redemption. Then, Donna (my wife) told me, that after all our years together, she felt that she did not know the Bible well. As her pastor, I had taught her how to be a godly person, but not how to understand our God revealed in the Bible.
The need for biblical preaching has never been more urgent. Biblical preaching is more than common sense truth with biblical proofs taken out of context. Instead, it is letting the agenda and shape of Scripture determine the agenda and shape of the message. I’ve learned that I have not taken it seriously enough -- and I think I am not alone.
-- Making your church relevant does not mean making it easy.
No question -- most of our churches need to be more relevant to their communities and their cultures. According to a recent Leavell Center/New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary study, 89 percent of our churches are not experiencing healthy evangelistic growth. Part of the reason is that they have become marginalized from their communities.
Yet, in a noble desire to reach more people, too many innovative leaders (like me) tried too hard to make things relevant. We tried too hard to give them what they wanted. Missiologist/urban pastor Tim Keller rightly cautions, "Contexualization is not 'giving people what they want' but rather it is giving God's answers (which people may not want!) to questions they are asking and in forms that they can comprehend.” I’ve learned that I need to remember that relevance only matters if it reveals the one true Christ and His Gospel.
-- Most of us are too thin-skinned for real discussion.
I can’t say I have really mastered this one, but a robust theological discussion takes a thick skin. Denominations that care about doctrine must also care about practice. Theology determines methodology and if we want to change practice, it is important to have a theological basis to do so. That requires being willing to critique yourself honestly and to listen to others and their critiques. I’ve learned that sometimes I confused healthy theological correction with arguments over preferences ... and took the concerns more personally than I should. I think a lot of disconnected SBC young leaders might have done the same.
The denomination where I came to faith doesn’t worry about practice, but they don’t worry much about theology or morals anymore, either. I’m glad these things matter -- and I am glad we are having the conversation. I’ll take the Southern Baptist Convention any day -- and work through the conversation with more traditional leaders to figure out what a biblically faithful church looks like in emerging culture.
Ed Stetzer serves as director of research at the North American Mission Board. A missiologist, he is the author of several articles and books on missional ministry.
These two articles were written by Dr. James Grier (our in-service speaker) who earned a Th. M. in Philosophcial Theology from Westminster Seminary. His primary profs were John Murray and Cornelius Van Til.
In the World but not of the World?
Gospel, Church, and Culture
This is an article that seeks to demonstrate the necessity of the gospel by examining an issue raised in the popular movie entitled “The Village,” by M. Night Shyamalan (who also wrote “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” and “Signs”). The movie recently came out in dvd a few weeks ago. So it is still very popular. Matt's article is a good example of what Paul did at Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-31). Matt Hand said, "I think we would do well to be a little 'Pauline' in our thinking and learn how to apply theology to what unbelievers are watching/reading/listening to, etc." I think you will enjoy the article. By the way, if you read this article and haven't yet watched the video, it WILL NOT ruin the movie for you.
Matt writes:
It’s October, 1897. The body of little Daniel Nicholson is being laid to rest after he lost a battle with a serious illness. One of the village elders, Edward Walker, stands and solemnly speaks to the people: “We may question ourselves at moments such as these. Did we make the right decision to settle here?”
Where have they settled…why have they come? the viewer asks. They have settled in a picturesque valley in a place they call Covington Woods. Here they have built their own village and their own way of life miles away from the nearest town. And why have they come to this place? In Walker’s words, they left the towns and settled in the village “out of hope of something good and right.” The towns were, as one of the young men put it, “Wicked places where wicked people live...that’s all.” Walker tells his daughter, Ivy, that the towns are “a darkness I wished you would never know.”
The villagers are convinced they have left evil behind them for good. The elders seem to believe they have created an isolated, ideological, safe haven that is sheltered from the very presence of sin and sorrow. This motif is repeatedly stated by several prominent characters in the movie. One of the elders, Mrs. Hunt, cautions her son with these words: “The evil things of my past are kept close and not forgotten. Forgetting would be to let them be born again in another form.” She is clearly implying that evil is not being reborn in the village, not even in new forms. Walker exemplifies this conviction while defending a difficult judgment call he made: “If we did not make this decision, we could never again call ourselves innocent. And that, in the end, is what we have protected here—innocence!”
The village elders hold to a prevalent worldview known as determinism or behaviorism. This philosophy says, in essence, that people are the products of their environment. The only real way to change people for the better is by altering the environmental factors that inevitably produced their improper behavior in the first place. The elders believed people acted wickedly because they lived in wicked places surrounded by wicked things. One example of this is when Edward warns Ivy, “Money can be a wicked thing. It can turn men’s hearts black—good men’s hearts.” So what did the elders do to avoid evil? They created a micro-economy that did not use any form of currency. Their worldview was this: If we can create a village that is innocent, the people who live here will always remain in a state of innocence.
Sound familiar? Ever heard of any other innocent people living in a perfect environment before? How about in the very first chapters of the Bible? Genesis 1:26ff tells us the true account of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, whom God created in His image. God blessed them abundantly and gave them dominion over every other living thing. God even placed them in a perfect environment—a beautiful garden called “Eden” (which means “delight”). God called His creation exceedingly beautiful and morally perfect (Genesis 1:31). Adam and Eve were totally innocent people living in a state of innocence.
That innocence didn’t last very long. God had only one boundary for Adam and Eve, yet they wasted no time overstepping it. Though there was nothing in their environment that could inevitably produce their improper behavior, they nevertheless lost their innocence when they were tempted of the devil and chose to satisfy the proud desires of their own hearts (Genesis 3:1-7). Contrary to the determinist worldview, the Bible makes unmistakably clear that evil is not simply a problem with our environment. Evil also resides in the power of “the evil one” (1 John 5:19) and within every human heart (Genesis 8:21).
Since evil resides in three sources, rather than one, we cannot escape evil by simply leaving overtly wicked places. Even when we avoid these places, we still carry sin within our own hearts. And none of us can physically leave the devil behind. We need a solution to evil that is far more realistic—and far more radical—than the village paradigm. We need a Savior who can deal with all three sources of sin.
1. Jesus Christ defeats the power of an evil environment.
God’s solution is not to run from the world, but to renew the world. Many Christians are guilty of the village mindset, which leads them to isolate themselves from sinners so that they might preserve their own sense of holiness. That isn’t what Jesus had in mind when He told His followers that they were the salt and light of the earth—agents of preservation and renewal (Matthew 5:13-16). The future return of Christ will prove once and for all His power over the corruption of this present world. In that day, He will destroy the decay of this world and make “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
2. Jesus Christ defeats the power of the evil one.
As soon as sin entered the world through Adam, God promised that Christ would ultimately defeat Satan (Genesis 3:15). That promise saw it’s partial fulfillment when Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, humiliating Satan and defeating his power of death (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14). Christ mortally wounded Satan through the triumph of the cross, enabling believers to experience victory over Satan’s temptations (Ephesians 6:16; James 4:7). The future return of Christ will mark Satan’s ultimate defeat and eternal judgment (Revelation 20:1-3, 10).
3. Jesus Christ defeats the power of our evil hearts.
The elders in the village thought they could avoid defilement and experience true innocence by leaving the world behind them. But Jesus taught, “Out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23). Though the elders did not recognize it, they were just as sinful as the people in the towns that they had left behind. They created a new environment, but they could not create new hearts. Only Christ, the Savior, can change our hearts and free us from the power of evil within us. By sheer grace, Christ freely gives us what we could never earn—and the very thing we crave: new, perfect, innocent hearts (Ezekiel 36:26).
So go ahead and watch “The Village.” Enjoy it. There’s a lot more to it than what I have told you! I’ve done my best not to ruin it’s suspense for those who have not seen it. But as you watch, remember: utopian societies have never worked because they fail to address all three sources of evil in this world. There is no substitute for the Savior. Only Christ can give you true freedom from the world, the devil, and your own flesh.
The following link will take you to a powerpoint presentation by Dr. Jim Grier (He has a Th.M. in apologetics and philosophical theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, as well as a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology and Apologetics). He was a guest lecturer for three of our chapel services this week at Baptist Bible College. All three lectures were excellent. The powerpoint link below is from his lecture "Gospel, Church, & Culture in a Postmodern Context." I think it will be worth your time to c lick through it. When you c lick on the link it will ask you if you wish to open or save. Let me assure you that it is safe to choose either one. Enjoy.
