In the prior four posts, we examined, all to briefly, the claim of Christ and the claim of pluralism: the belief in Jesus as the only way to God and belief that the many paths lead to God. Which is the better claim? We’ve seen that religious pluralism is inaccurate, arrogant, and intolerant. Is Christianity any better? I’d like to suggest three ways that Christianity is better from the claim of Jesus himself. He said that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let’s take each point.

Christianity Should Make Us Incredibly Humble

First, Jesus is the Way. What does this mean? Does it mean that Jesus is our trailblazer, clearing the other religious options aside so we can hike our way to heaven through spiritual or moral improvement. If I keep the Ten Commandments, if I serve the poor and love my neighbor, if I pray and read the Bible enough, then God will accept me. No. As the way, Jesus doesn’t create a path for us to hike. We can never make it, do enough spiritual, moral, or social good to impress God. Much less love him with all our soul, mind, and strength. We cant make it up the path. We all fail to love and serve the infinitely admirable and lovable God. In fact, we love other things more, that’s a crime of infinite proportions. It’s against an infinite God. The sentence for our crime must be carried out.

When Jesus takes the arduous hike for us he goes down into the valley where the criminals die. He hikes down into our sin, our rebellion, our failures and he heaps them all on his back and climbs on a cross, where he is punished for our crime, a bloody gruesome death. The innocent punished for the guilty. If he doesn’t take our punishment, then we must endure it—forever separation from God. If you reject Jesus, then you will pay the infinite consequences. However, if you embrace Jesus in his sin-absorbing death you get forgiveness, and Jesus hikes not only through the valley but up the mountain to carry your forgiveness to God, where he pleads our innocence (Heb 10). This is what it means for Jesus to be the way. He hikes into the valley of our just punishment and up the mountain for our forgiveness. He is the redemptive way. He takes our place. This understanding of Jesus as the way should make us incredibly humble not arrogant. We realize how undeserving we are and how much mercy we have been shown.

Christianity is Wonderfully Enlightening

Jesus is also the Truth. What does that mean? In John chapter 1, we are told that God became flesh and was full of grace and truth in Jesus. The truth is that God is Jesus. This is enlightening. Christianity is the only religion where God comes down to man, becomes man. All other religions man has to work his way to God. The truth is Jesus, the truth is a person, who dies in our place, for our crimes, and in turn gives us his life. The truth is that God, works his way down to man, and dies for us. That’s grace. See, the truth isn’t a special prayer or a codeword we say at the pearly gates. In Christianity, the truth is essentially revealed in a Person, Jesus, full of grace and truth. All other religions God is impersonal, but in Christianity we meet God in Jesus. The truth is a Person who dies for us. Wonderfully enlightening, moving.

Christianity Should Make Us Persuasively Tolerant

Finally, Jesus is the Life. As if it wasn’t enough to be our way, incredibly humbling, and the truth, truly enlightening, Jesus caps it off by offering us not just his death but his life. What life? Later on in John, Jesus says he is the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believes in him, though he die yet he will live” (11:25). He does down into the valley to take our death, and raises up from the dead to up the other side of valley where he prepares a new place for us to enjoy life with him forever. The hope of that life should break into the lives of Christians today, making us persuasively tolerant. We tolerantly extend people the dignity of their own beliefs. We don’t minimize the differences between religions. We honor them. The life of Christ produces in us true humility. But it also produces in us true enlightenment. We’ve come to grasp grace, that God works his way down to us, dies for our moral and religious failures, and offers us life. If this is true, we must lovingly, humbly try to persuade others to believe in Jesus, who alone offers the wonderful promise of the way to God, the truth of God, and life of God.

See, in the end it doesn’t matter how nice or moral a person is because there is not enough niceness or morality to pay for our rejection of God. Either we must be rejected or we turn to Jesus who was rejected for us. This is the heart of the gospel. Jesus lays down his very own life for those who reject him, for his enemies, for those who don’t believe in him, and offers them forgiveness. Why would we reject such a man? So you see, Jesus claim is better than the claim of the religious pluralism. In fact Christianity delivers where pluralism cannot. Instead of being unenlightened, Jesus is truly enlightening as the God who is full of grace and truth. Instead of being arrogant, Jesus should make us incredibly humble, he created the way to God for us at the expense of his own death. Finally, instead of being intolerant, Jesus should make us persuasively tolerant, granting people the dignity of unbelief in Christ but pleading with them to believe in Christ for true life!

So, in the end, you have to decide where to place your faith. Will you place it in the unenlightened, dogmatic, and intolerant pluralism? Or will you place it in Jesus, who is the incredibly humbling way, the enlightening truth, and the persuasively tolerant life? Both require faith. Leslie Newbigin said: “Doubt is not autonomous.” What he meant is that you can’t doubt alone. We can’t doubt one thing without placing our faith in another. You doubt Jesus and trust pluralism or your trust Jesus and doubt pluralism. You cant say “I believe Jesus is the only way” and say “I believe all religions lead to God.” So, will you place faith in Jesus who is the way, truth, and life? Or will you place your faith religious pluralism? I hope you’ll choose Jesus.

VERGE is turning out, and centralizing, some of the best missional community resources. They recently ran my 8 Ways to Easily Be Missional. Check out their videos and other resources to help you follow Jesus and spread his grace.

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

Austin, Texas                                                                      November 2, 2008

Last week I spoke at the Acts 29 Bootcamp in Dallas. Preparation for the event was good for my soul. I was more nervous than I can recall being in a while. I had to work this fear out in faith and repentance. The Lord had me in 1 Thess 2:4 for a couple weeks, in perfect preparation for this fight:

For just has be have been approved by God and entrusted with the Gospel in this way we speak, no as pleasing men but God who test our hearts.

The fight was to speak from my security in the gospel not for security and approval of my listenesrs and fellow church planters. God was testing my heart days and weeks in advance. I repented from my desire to impress others and clung to Jesus’ forgiveness and strength in the gospel. I plowed on in the Spirit.

The night before my plenary on Spirit-led Ecclesiology, Robie gently corrected me. She showed me that my talk was trying to impress by “going deep” instead of trying to equip by “sharing my struggles.” I wanted to hide behind the approval of intellect instead of minister from a place of vulnerability. Then she sent me out of the house to keep working on the talk. What a wife.

At the coffeeshop I had a good conversation with John, a homeless guy. Father, call John to repentance, transition his life, heal his pain…Robie is such a blessing. Give me more Christlike love for her LORD. Spirit help me to be aware of how I can serve her and let my new heart live.

The GCM Collective Conference for 2011 will be September 14-16. The new website is live and you can EARLY BIRD register right now. Its theologically grounded and practically focused–rare–Gonna be great!

More Info

You will get to hear from, meet and interact with leaders who are daily practitioners, living in gospel communities on mission in their cities. This is a unique experience that will present the why, what and how-to of starting, leading and multiplying missional communities. Interactive plenary sessions, breakouts and unique training experiences will fill our days both on-site and off.

Big church, small church, multi-site or neighborhood…this event is for every church that seeks to effectively expand the gospel in their context.

Speakers:, Steve Timmis, Jeff Vanderstelt, Caesar Kalinowski, David Fairchild, Drew Goodmanson and Jonathan Dodson.

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

Austin, Texas August 24, 2007

We are away from the kids for the first time since our U Haul move from Boston to Austin in November 2006. My parents graciously paid for a trip to San Francisco, where we are on our second of five days. Time away from Owen and Ellie has already proven fruitful as we discuss our desires to “be the best mother and father by being a good ‘son’ and ‘daughter’.” This trip is an active reflection of our desire for Owen and Ellie to know who loves them most and who they should love most–God. As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.

As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.

This trip is also a time to consider the greatness of God, and his acts in creation, and my life. It’s not hard. I’m sitting in a cushioned chair, feet propped up on a small wooden table, knees bent, legs leaning slightly to the left. Each time I lift my head, my eyes rest on San Francisco Bay, as I look out our 27th floor balcony upon the vast Pacific dotted with sail boats and surrounded by low-level clouds that look like the will be ready to shower in a few hours. To the right is a small peninsula and to the left is Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, though it is hiding behind the fog…the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.

the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.

O Lord, grand that both Owen and Ellie would have moments and vacations like this time away from the busyness of life, and into the blessedness of living. May they see and savor you in creation as well as in the urban. The air is crisp and the sky mostly clear and blue. Caught somewhere between the city below and the city to come, moments like this are rare with two children. THANK you Lord, not merely for the moment but for allowing me to know you’re in it—generous, kind, loving, sovereign, and powerful.

Contextualization and church planting aren’t anything new. These have been practices of the missional church for centuries. Get better at contextualization by considering the wisdom of our early planting fathers Gregory the Great and his partner Augustine of Canterbury (not St. Augustine of Hippo).

Here.

Over the past few years of leading a missional church in a resistant, urban context I’ve re-examined my inherited theology of conversion. Conversion to Christ in a post-Christendom era is more complex than it was 50 years ago. In trying to sort this out, I wrote this article was one foray into a more critical examination of “punctiliar” or point-in-time conversion. In 2009, I unpacked some of my concerns and conclusions at the LEAD ’09 Conference (session 3). Although helpful, these studies have felt very incomplete, which is why I seized upon the opportunity to review Transforming Conversion: rethinking the language and contours of Christian initiation.

Book Overview

Transforming Conversion attempts to clarify the nature of Christian conversion by integrating biblical exegesis, historical and systematic theology, and experiential reflection. After introducing some salutary concerns, Smith moves into a exegesis of conversion in Ephesians and Acts. Building on his conclusions, he moves to insights gleaned from various theological streams throughout church history (Augustine/Early Church to Islam/Global Church). A final chapter on practical implications concludes the book.

Helpful Insights

Distinguishing Between “Conversion” and “Salvation”

Gordon Smith opens his book by stating the urgent need to theologically clarify the nature of conversion. Pointing to theological confusion created by our “revivalist past” and our missional present, his opening chapter offers several clarifying insights. First, he clarifies the difference between salvation and conversion, which were conflated with the language of the American revivalism. He suggests the reason for this conflation was to give the individual confidence in their self-selected conversion, regardless of its narrowing affect upon the cosmic doctrine of salvation. He writes: “The words salvation and conversion are not synonymous…salvation is the work of God; conversion is a human response to divine initiative.”

Conversion isn’t Punctiliar or Individualistic

A second helpful insight is that most conversions are not what our parents experienced–punctiliar, a point-in-time, sinners prayer that resulted in a profoundly pious and unmistakable point of entry into the kingdom of God. Gordon points out that most conversions are a process that take place over years.

The revivalist emphasis was upon individual conversion at the expense of conversion into a community. The overemphasis on human will failed to see that conversion is something that happens in community, that “the church mediates the experience of a conversion”, acting like a womb for new creation (188). He notes: “We must recover a deep appreciation of the communal character of all religious experience, beginning with conversion.” (10) I was particularly appreciative of his talk two conversions, though he falls short of mentioning the third conversion: “…conversion will be a conversion both to the church and to Christ, and the conversion to Christ will be cultivated and nurtured within a church community.” (183)

Conversion is Cosmically Situated

Through his study of Ephesians, Smith points out that the Bible often begins with a cosmic view of salvation and then narrows to God’s purposes for humanity. We typically begin with the individual, and only sometimes, make it out to the cosmic breadth of God’s saving work in Christ. We have it backwards. When we see the ascended Christ as a reigning Lord over all the earth, including those whom he graciously converts to his program of new creation, then we begin at the right place, the right hand of the Father. Bottomline—conversion is not about “asking Jesus into your heart”; it is about acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord.

Hallmarks of Conversion

Here are the biblical hallmarks of Christian conversion according to Smith’s reflection on the New Testament:

1. A result of Divine Initiative
2. Requires Human Inquiry
3. Gospel must be Preached
4. Joy is Present
5. Conversion is clarified by Baptism

Concluding Thoughts

Smith offers some very helpful and clarifying insights based on biblical reflection on conversion. The book interweaves historical and theological insights throughout these hallmarks of conversion mined from the New Testament. We would do well to consider these five factors in our gospel ministry, to guide others with biblical wisdom and pastoral care. Moreover, the emphasis on conversion to the church is something that will have to be rescued from the lion’s mouth of “organized religion” and placed back into the capable hands of the ascended Christ, who converts us, not to religion or to individualism but to his very own Body, his people, his bride. This requires patience, clear teaching, exemplary community living that gathers the saints, not around personalities or preaching, but around Jesus.

Although his final chapter makes a pass at the practical, Smith  inadequately addresses the practical implications of his theological study, leaving us to do the hard work of bridging the biblical world to the contemporary world. What should we expect from those who experience process not punctiliar conversion? How do we guide them? What role does the community play? Who should baptize? We could have used another 100 pages on the outworking of this fine study! That said, this book is well-written, clear, insightful, and timely. Read a free excerpt here.

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

 

 

Austin, Texas                                                                                     February 11, 2008

Robie had surgery this week to remove a parasitical tumor, which had the possibility of being cancer. It wasn’t cancer and the surgery went very well! I am not grateful enough, though I am incredibly grateful to God and to science and to Dr. Garza.

This is my last week working for bowling.com. The demands of ACL are bearing down, especially fund-raising. God would you raise the money for salaries, costs, and especially rent at the Draft House?