TGC: Bay Area. Christ, Sex, & The City Conference
- Nearly 400 people (mostly twentysomethings) from across the Bay Area showed up for our TGC: Bay Area; Christ, Sex, & The City Conference with Peter Jones.
- It was a great night.
- It was encouraging to see this many people gathered together in the Bay Area to hear a message about responding to the sexuality of our culture with the gospel.
- Now we’re working on plans for the next conference.
Love Your Pastor: Reformer’s Feasts
Love your pastor.
Last night two men from our church, Jacob Habache and Ronnie Inzunka, treated Taylor and me to a feast (photo above). They bought us great food and spent the evening caring for us, encouraging us, and praying for us (and talking theology with us).
Jacob and Ronnie do this for us 4x a year.
Jacob and Ronnie have been doing this for us for several years.
Jacob and Ronnie call these times “Reformer’s Feasts.” I don’t know why they call it that, but I like it.
Taylor and I really looking forward to these gatherings. We always come away from them refueled and refreshed. We treasure our friendship with Jacob and Ronnie. We’re amazed that they’ve chosen to love us like this.
Is there something new God might be calling you to do to love the pastor/pastors in your church?
Toby Kurth: Will Gospel-Centrality Go the Way of Fundamentalism?
I have a good friend named Toby Kurth. Last year he planted Christ Church in San Francisco. Toby and I serve together on the board for The Gospel Coalition: Bay Area. This year we have Toby coming to speak at our 20s retreat. And this past week Toby wrote a great little piece, Will Gospel-Centrality Go the Way of Fundamentalism?, that I greatly appreciate and that I’ve posted below. Enjoy.
Will gospel-centrality go the way of fundamentalism? Let’s hope not. Before fundamentalism became associated with reductionist “fighting fundies” it made many wonderful contributions to evangelical Christianity. In the face of liberalism, fundamentalism defended the basic biblical doctrines that conservative evangelicals believed were fundamental, or one might say central, to the Christian faith. Doctrines that any “gospel-centered” evangelical would still enthusiastically support: the inerrancy of the Scriptures, the virgin birth and the deity of Jesus, the substitutionary atonement by God’s grace and through faith, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the authenticity of Christ’s miracles.
Fundamentalism equipped pastors and churches to preserve, protect, and proclaim a clear gospel message. Over time fundamentalism became little more than a slogan with no real substance behind it. Fundamentalists would doggedly defend themselves against all that disagreed with their fundamentals, but those fundamentals lost definition and connection to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Enter gospel-centrality.
Like fundamentalism, gospel-centrality seeks to equip pastors and churches to preserve, protect, and proclaim a clear gospel message. Organizations like the Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel came into existence for that very purpose.
Gospel centrality must not be reduced to a slogan or way of defining yourself that does not really describe how you view the world. Gospel-centrality says that all of life and the Scriptures must be interpreted through the person and work of Jesus Christ. If gospel-centrality becomes just a way of speaking about ministry with certain buzzwords and catch phrases then it will have lost all meaning.
We do not drift towards gospel-centrality in our own lives or in our churches. It involves an active and frequent application of gospel truth to every situation we face. What makes me nervous are phrases like “Is he gospel-centered?” or “That is not a gospel-centered church.” Let’s not settle for shorthand. Being “gospel-centered” is a life-long endeavor, not a slogan. It is not the ability to recite a few well-crafted phrases; it is rather the commitment to continually turn away from defining yourself or your church in accordance with anything other than the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Dominated by a Sense of God
Our culture presents us with forms of prayer that are mostly self-expression–pouring ourselves out before God or lifting our gratitude to God as we feel the need or have the occasion. Such prayer is dominated by a sense of self. But prayer, mature prayer, is dominated by a sense of God.
-Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant. pp. 102-103
Designed for Glory
From the first moment of the creation of Adam and Eve, people were designed to live within the huge contours of the glory of God. We were not designed to settle for personal survival, temporal happiness, or individual success. We were created to find our meaning, identity, and purpose in the existence, character, and plan of God. Our identity was meant to be rooted in his love. Our hope was designed to be tied to his grace. Our potential was meant to be connected to his power. Our purpose was meant to be structured by his will. Our joy was meant to be wed to his glory. In every way, our vision of what is necessary, true, worthy, and meaningful was meant to be rooted in a functional worship of him. We were created for the dignity of living large and meaningful lives—lives that literally are connected to the things before the creation of the world and extending far into eternity.
-Paul Tripp, A Quest For More, p. 90
Geographical
It is in the nature of pastoral work to walk into an alien world, put our feet on the pavement, and embrace the locale. Pastoral work is geographical as much as it is theological. Pastors don’t send memos, don’t send generic messages, don’t work from a distance: locale is part of it. It is in the nature of pastoral work to be on site, working things out in the particular soil of a particular parish.
-Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant, pp. 122-123
Who Has A Lot of Work to Do Today?
While rushing out the door this morning I found myself saying, “I have a lot of work to do today.”
This is true. The list is long.
I have messages to write, people to meet and counsel, texts to study, emails that need a reply, big decisions to make, meetings to attend, bills to pay, forms to fill out, a head full of ideas, and a home full of wild toddlers and a sick, pregnant wife.
But a few steps out of my door, I caught myself. I considered my thinking: “I have a lot of work to do today.”
Immediately this thought popped into my head: “God has a lot of work to do today.”
“I have a lot of work to do today” vs. “God has a lot of work to do today”
Both statements are true.
I have a lot of work to do today. The list is long. The list feels heavy.
And, God has a lot of work to do today. All the work that I do today, God prepared this work in advance. God sustains the work. God is the main worker in this equation. Ultimately, God is the one who makes things happen, who gets things done.
As I move through today, I’m making “God has a lot of work to do today” the more dominant thought in my head, the main image that makes sense of my to-do list.
This is the biblical way to think about our day, our work, our to-do list.
Look at your to-do list right now. Yes, you have a lot of work to do today. But don’t stop there. See a bigger truth: God has a lot of work to do today. For progress to be made on this list of yours, God must get things done.
Quit carrying such a heavy burden. You weren’t made to carry this burden. Yes, you were created to work. Yes, you have a lot of work to do. But you will work at your best when you look at your list and fixate on this: God has a lot of work to do today.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21
Commit: Tullian Tchividjian Interview, Part 2
Here’s part 2 of the latest Commit interview with Tullian Tchividjian.
3. What are some of the dangers you’ve seen show up in Christian community when the gospel is not understood, believed, and applied together?
Segregation is the biggest danger that shows up inside the church when the gospel is not grasped. Since the gospel is the good news that God reconciles us not only to himself but also to one another, the church should be breaking down barriers, not erecting them. God intends the church to be demonstrating for the watching world what community looks like when the reconciling power of the gospel is at work. Sadly, however, segregation seems to be as fashionable inside the church as outside.
Most churches would agree that any segregation arising from racial or economic bigotry runs contrary to the nature of the gospel and should not be tolerated. But there’s another segregation, perhaps more subtle, that many churches today have embraced. Following the lead of the advertising world, many churches and worship services target specific age groups to the exclusion of others. They forget that, according to the Bible, the church is an all-age community, and instead they organize themselves around distinctives dividing the generations: Busters, Boomers, Millennials, generations X, Y, and Z.
I understand the good intentions behind these seemingly harmless efforts, but they evidence a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the gospel. We’re not only feeding toxic tribalism; we’re also saying the gospel can’t successfully bring different groups together. It’s a declaration of doubt about the unifying power of God’s gospel. Generational appeal in worship, for instance, is an unintentional admission that the gospel is powerless to join together what man has separated.
Building the church on stylistic preferences or age appeal (whether old or young) is just as contrary to the reconciling effect of the gospel as building it on class, race, or gender distinctions.
In The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis mentions two friends, Ronald and Charles. After one of them died, Lewis realized there was no consolation to be found in the possibility that he and the surviving friend might now actually “get” more of each other as a result. “Far from having more of Ronald, having him ‘to myself’ now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald.” He would never again, for example, observe Ronald’s unique reaction to one of Charles’s jokes. Lewis notes, “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I need other lights than my own to show all his facets.”
The soul-shrinking byproduct of segregation is that it prevents us from knowing God deeply because the only way to know him deeply is to have many different types of Christian people in your life, since each person will help to reveal a part of God that you can’t see by yourself. This means the great tragedy of segregation isn’t so much that we see less of each other but that in separating from each other we see less of God. All of us need other lights than our own to see more of his facets.
4. Why have you given your life to pastor a local church?
I realized many years ago that God has only oath-bound his blessing to one institution—the church. And while the church is universal in nature, it’s local in expression. Therefore, if I wanted to be where the gospel-action is, I needed to give my life to the local church.
I really believe a central component to my calling is to help a new generation understand the beauty and necessity of the local church. A few years ago I was in Starbucks with our music director, Brandon. As we waited in line to get our afternoon caffeine kick, the young barista behind the counter overheard us talking about our church, which at that point was only a year old, and we started chatting. Brandon soon invited her to visit our church one Sunday. She responded in typical postmodern fashion, saying, “I’m into spirituality, but I’m not really into organized religion.” Brandon, who has a wonderfully quick wit, replied, “Don’t worry, we’re really not that organized.”
The barista’s statement illustrates what many people believe today, namely that they can have a meaningful relationship with God without being connected to a local church. But it’s just not possible to have Christ the head without Christ the body—his church (Ephesians 1:22–23; Colossians 1:18). The two are inseparable. Christians do not worship a decapitated Jesus. The Bible does not drive a wedge between Christ and his body. To neglect the body of Christ is to neglect Christ. Just as no one can survive without air, so Christians can’t survive without the church. Without the church, Christians suffocate.
The best place for me to help people understand this is in the role of local pastor.
I’m doing what I am. I can’t doing anything else–thank God!
Pay More Attention To…
There came a point at which I was convinced that it was critically important to pay more attention to what God does than what I do, and to find daily, weekly, yearly rhythms that would get that awareness into my bones.
-Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant, p. 96
Jesus Storybook Bible Video
My sons love reading The Jesus Storybook Bible and, more recently, love listening to the audio version. Several nights a week have the cds playing in the background as we go about life in our home.
In time for Easter, here’s a great animated video from the book of the resurrection:
