Repentance Doesn’t Lead to Neutral

Posted on June 16, 2010

I’m reminded this morning that repentance is always good news. It is the reminder of Christ’s profound love for us, that God has accepted and forgiven otherwise unacceptable and unforgivable sinners. Jesus said to the church at Laodicea: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”(Rev 3:19) Repentance is good news because it draws us away from unfaithful lovers to sweep us back into the arms of our one, true Love.

Love Doesn’t Lead us to Neutral

In repentance, God’s loving leads to our turning. Turning from sin is turning to Christ. It’s not a hollow confession in the neutral zone of a no man’s land, where we are left drifting, unguarded only to drift back into the same sinful fray all over again. Love doesn’t lead us into neutral. It doesn’t overlook sin and leave us stranded in no man’s land. It confronts, calling us to the better land. To not settle for slums when there is a paradise to be had. This is the love of Christ—reproof and discipline—pouring out upon us, the church.

Repentance Includes Resolve

So this morning, Lord, I receive your good news and I repent of wandering eyes and turn to fix my eyes on the beauty and glory of Christ. I repent of impatience with my children and turn to the great patience of the Father with me, his son, that I might extend an enduring love to my own children. I leave behind the false lovers of lust and self importance. I zealously repent this morning, turning to your open arms, unfailing love and never-ending importance. I refuse to fake repent, to enter the no man’s land of hollow confession and habitual sin. I will push into the promised land with zeal and flee the slums of sinful indifference. I cry out for the help of the Father to strengthen his helpless son. I resolve to so trust you that I live more dependently and obediently. And I do so, not despairingly but with hope…

Repentance Leads to Feasting

For your call of loving repentance comes with a promise: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the do0r, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Repentance is good news because, as I close the door on sin, I open the door to Christ. Notice that this is a call to the church. When we respond to his rap-a-tap-tap upon our hearts, he meets us, not with a disapproving frown, or impatient scolding but with a warm embrace, an embrace that moves us from slums to paradise, from lovers to one, true Love, from disobedience to obedience. He waits, lovingly to feast with us. He will dine with me and I will dine with him. True repentance leads to feasting, feasting with the King!

7 Pieces of Advice for Young Preachers

Posted on June 14, 2010

Young preachers often wrestle with preaching. How much time should I spend on preaching preparation? How do I develop my voice? What makes for good preaching? I’ll never forget sitting a room with Tim Keller over lunch where he advised young preachers to spend more time with people, less time with books. Knowing people helps the preacher apply the text to real life. Sage counsel.

I’ll venture out to add some more advice:

1. The theologically educated should spend less time in books and more time in culture. You’ve put in your theology time, now put it to work in the hearts of your people and the culture of your city. Labor to make the text touch your culture, the gospel bless your city.

2. If not theologically trained, get some on the fly and use it directly in the pulpit. Double up to use your study efficiently. Focus on strong exegesis that will serve you for a lifetime, not cultural savvy, humor, or technique that fades overnight.

3. Consider your context and preach to your people. Pastoring the working class? Be less heady, more earthy. Don’t try to be Tim Keller. Find a preaching mentor that suits your context. Pastoring Creatives/knowledge class? Deal with their intellecual objections. Some heady but still heart focused. You get the drift.

4. Spend a lot of time in prayer for your people. Plead for the gift and guidance of the Spirit all week long for ministry of the Word that extends well beyond the pulpit and into people’s lives. Pray the gospel into the hearts of your people. Pray them through suffering. Pray them into a life of faith and obedience. Listen to Terry Virgo’s message on Prevailing Prayer.

5. Don’t try to “arrive” with each message. Preaching is a lifelong process. The last revision should be Spirit-led from the pulpit. Give yourself the grace God is giving you in developing your voice and honing your craft. Not perfection overnight but perseverance over a lifetime.

6. Be less hours driven and more Spirit led. Meditate on the text; don’t just study it. Do whatever it takes to get your heart repenting, rejoicing, trusting in the Word of God, in Christ the Word. Give your church a well prepared preacher, not merely a well prepared sermon.

7. Give equal attention the ministry of the Word throughout the week. Take time to develop a community that has facility in a ministry of the Word thru the week with another. Train them how to speak the truth in love, encourage one another daily, exhort, reprove, correct with gentility. God builds his church through a kingdom of priests not kingdom of preachers.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Church Planting Movements

Posted on June 11, 2010

Church planters often rightly admire and celebrate the great work of God in church planting movements (CPM) in the Non-Western world. However, all to often they pay attention to CPM statistics (number of conversions, rate of reproducing churches, percentage of people group reached) not CPM missiology. As good Westerners, we gravitate to the quantities in CPMs, decrying the slow resurgence of the gospel in the U.S., instead of learning from the qualitative factors that constitute CPMs.

In short, I’m not sure the comparison between the Majority World and the West is entirely helpful. Although we have MUCH to learn from the Majority Church, the U.S. is not Africa or Asia. Therefore, I propose that a result-based comparison between the Majority Church and the Western Church isn’t helpful for several reasons:

1. Church Planting Movements are not Overnight Phenomenons: Contrary to popular impression, Non-western church planting movements often take decades of silent plowing before they reach a movemental tipping point. Therefore, describing them as “rapid” can be a deceptive and naive comparison.

2. The Western Context is Much Different from the Non-Western Context: The West is diverse in its receptivity to the gospel, ranging from receptive Christianized pockets to resistant post-Christian areas. Gospel receptivity in Africa is much higher; however, not all receptivity results in true conversions. The numbers are inflated. Discipleship is critical.

3. Definitions of Church Vary Considerably: The definitions of what constitutes a “church” in Africa & Asia varies significantly, in number and expression, from what constitutes a traditional church plant in the U.S. A church in the Global South may be 15-20 people, a range that barely constitutes a missional community by U.S. standards.

4. Church Planting Movements are Movements of the Spirit: The regenerating work of the Spirit is a mystery, moving like a wind throughout history, sometimes breezing through nations and other times rushing through people groups. CPMs are not the product of great strategies but of the sovereign work of the Spirit to build Christ’s Church.

5. Three Missing Non-strategic Ingredients for Movements: Ultimately, church planting movements are born out of great persecution, outpouring of the Spirit, and prayer. All three ingredients are largely absent from church planting in the U.S.

Therefore, I suggest we stop banging the drum of non-Western CPM results and, instead, focus on faithful, prayerful, gospel labors that don’t overestimate comparisons or underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit.