JT reported on the Total Church Conference that was held recently. There is much free audio available. Enjoy!

As we continue our series of posts on the book Total Church, today we speak of world mission (chapter 6 in the book). As they introduce this section, the authors, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis say:

The centrality of the gospel and the gospel community apply not only on our doorstep but to the ends of the earth. God summons us both to “proclaim [his] excellencies” and to be “a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV). It is our responsibility and privilege as Christians to be engaged in world mission. (p.99)

What really stuck out to me in this chapter was the following quote:

In the contemporary and often confused scene, mission has become a non-specific and slippery term. But the words of Jesus that close Matthew’s Gospel provide us with a vital compass point. They make it clear that it is Jesus and his word that are the very heart of mission. He is the one to whom authority has been given; he is the one who commands his disciples to go; his name is among those into which people are baptized; it is his teaching that people are to obey; he is the one who will be with them as they go. At the heart of world mission is Jesus and the gospel word.

As we think about engaging the world on mission, let’s never lose sight of the fact that the Gospel Word must be central.

David Powlison in his book Power Encounters, gives the following quote by Luther:

This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
no being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet what we shall be but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished but is going on;
this is not the end but it is the road;
all does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

Well said and worth hearing!

Robin Boisvert, in the curriculum How Can I Change?, speaks of the following summary of Christian growth:

In a day when quick solutions to longstanding problems are too easily offered, we wish to recommend the old paths, having found them tried and true. There is no short course to Christian maturity. There is no crossless way to follow Christ, no instant secret to the Christian life. But like distance running, if the way of the cross is not easy, neither is it complicated. God presents us with a pathway that is narrow yet straight. He makes his ways plain to those who are sincerely interested in following him, and he will show himself strong on behalf of all whose hearts are fully his.

So, is this kind of growth taking place in your life? Have you availed yourself to the grace to be found by pursuing this in marriage?

Only Piper could give us such a conundrum. His thoughts, though, are excellent. Using 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, he writes on this balance. Here’s his first point, which relates to my sermon on 9/19/08AM:

1. “Let those who have wives live as though they had none.”

This doesn’t mean move out of the house, don’t have sex, and don’t call her Honey. Earlier in this chapter Paul says, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights” (1 Corinthians 7:3). He also says to love her the way Christ loved the church, leading and providing and protecting (Ephesians 5:25-30). It means this: Marriage is momentary. It’s over at death, and there is no marriage in the resurrection. Wives and husbands are second priorities, not first. Christ is first. Marriage is for making much of him.

It means: If she is exquisitely desirable, beware of desiring her more than Christ. And if she is deeply disappointing, beware of being hurt too much. This is temporary—only a brief lifetime. Then comes the never-disappointing life which is life indeed.

So it is with voting. We should do it. But only as if we were not doing it. Its outcomes do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t. Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together.

Read the rest of this excellent article here. It will help you vote in a way that will honor Christ.

The new 9Marks E-Journal is out on the church and counseling.

I dug out this old sermon and listened to it yesterday and again, it was fresh and alive in new ways. (I say old as if it is a classic, but it was given at SG Ministries’ 2004 Leadership Conference).

Wayne Grudem on Keeping Your Heart with All Vigilance

Download and enjoy!

In his book Breaking the Missional Code, Ed Stetzer and David Putnam encourage each church to ask themselves the following question:

“Are we faithfully proclaiming the faith in the place in which we find ourselves today?”

This question gets at the core of the modern missional mindset. So, are you? And are we?

What continues a series of posts on the book Total Church on Tuesdays leaves us here today at the chapter on Church Planting. Tim Chester and Steve Timmis write about the need for church planting in the conclusion to this helpful chapter:

The New Testament pattern of church life implies a regular transplanting of churches. This creates a missionary dynamic in which new leaders can emerge and the church can re-invent itself. Church planting is part of normal church life. At present church planting carries a certain mystique. Church planters are portrayed as a unique kind of rugged pioneer. But we need to create a culture in which transplanting is normal. Every local church should be aiming to transplant and raise up church planters. (pp.97-98)

What strikes me with this chapter is how foreign it is to much of the way I was raised to think. In our age of the mega-church, we often don’t think in terms of reproduce and transplanting ourselves but as growing ourselves to some huge structure that others can oo and awe at. The NT paints a different picture, though. The church was consistently reproducing itself and establishing new congregations. This is quite a thought. Is your church aiming at transplanting itself and raising up church planters? Just a thought.

Over at The Henry Institute, Phillip Bethancourt has written an interesting commentary which would make for good discussion on our Marriage Monday:

Next generation technology and its impact on family life: “…researchers reported that family life has not been weakened, as many had worried it would, by new technology. Rather, families have compensated for the stress and hurry of modern life with cellphone calls, emails, text messages and other new forms of communication.” How are you building techno-discernment in the community to which you minister?

What we cannont compromise on is the priority that our families should have in our lives. Whether it is being devoted to being an excellent spouse or parenting your children well (and usually it’s both), we have to cope for the stress and hurry of modern life and redeem technology for the glory of God. Is this taking place for you?