Entries Tagged 'General' ↓

(Disclaimer – Unless you’re on the same crazy wavelength I am tonight, parts of this may not make any sense or may be plain wrong.)

I’ve been haunted — nagged, almost — by this idea of “Gospel Transformation” lately. The idea that the Gospel — the Good News that Christ, through his death, burial, resurrection, and reign, is bringing Kingdom of God to fruition — is not just news to be heard, and not even just news to be believed, but news that actually transforms. Instead of waiting to be acted upon, this news acts upon us (and everything around us).

Crazy.

I tweeted some thoughts on this (in 140-character-or-less bites, of course) a little while ago. Some “highlights” . . .

The church — the LOCAL church — is to be an agent of Gospel transformation in the lives of individuals, in the city, and in the world. (#)

“Gospel transformation” is that change that takes place when the Good News of Christ’s Kingdom comes to bear on whatever it will. (#)

“Gospel transformation” is not a one-time change, but a God-initiated, God-advanced, God-achieved process. (#)

“Gospel transformation” is not limited to individual lives & souls, but extends to families, neighborhoods, cities, and the whole world. (#)

“Gospel transformation” (generally) flows, however, from individuals out to further & larger spheres (family->neighborhood->city->world). (#)

As Jesus takes his royal throne in his peoples’ hearts, transforming them, they are then released for mission as his Kingdom agents. (#)

“Gospel transformation” will find its completion in the victory of Christ over his enemies and the full renewal of his people and world. (#)

Until then — the Second Advent of Christ — we work, wait, and say “Come, Lord Jesus!” (#)

At our church, we often say “Grace Changes Everything”. That phrase has become something of a rallying cry for us. Grace — the unmerited, undeserved, unwarranted love and favor that God gives through the Gospel — really does change everything. Not just “us”, though it certainly does change us. It’s only through believing the Gospel that anyone is taken from spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s only through believing the Gospel that anyone is freed from the bondage of sin and freed to LIVE. It’s only through believing the Gospel that anyone will ever be reconciled to God. Grace truly does change us.

I once thought that was the end of the story. Repent of sin, believe the Gospel, Jesus saves you, and now you go on and do the best you can, asking Jesus to forgive you when you mess up along the way until you die and “go to Heaven.”

Wrong. Grace changes everything.

The Good News isn’t just the news that God’s Son died on a cross for our sins and rose for our salvation (though that’s certainly a BIG part of it). The Good News is this — the King and his Kingdom are here. The King and his Kingdom are coming. Jesus wins. Jesus is setting and will set all things right. He is bringing his reign of eternal shalom to bear on all of Creation. And as if this News wasn’t enough, he calls his people to participate in the bringing of this Kingdom to bear! Not that we somehow “partner” with God, as if we’re his equals, but that we — as individuals and as we gather in local congregations — are his agents, affecting this transformation. Through his regenerated people, God is establishing his Kingdom.

Think about it. You, Christian, are working to bring the Kingdom of God when you . . .
- worship with God’s people
- pray
- call an unbelieving friend to repent and believe
- show hospitality
- teach someone viable job skills
- buy a homeless guy a meal
- create something beautiful
- work with integrity
- et cetera and so on

These are ways in which God is making our neighborhoods, cities, and the world look a little bit more and more like the coming Kingdom every day, and he’s elected to use broken, jacked-up imbeciles like us to do it. Crazy.

The Gospel is news that transforms. If Grace has changed you, then heed God’s call to change things.

I obviously don’t talk much here anymore, and it seems that when I do, I’m talking about preaching. This is no exception.

Greg, our pastor at Grace Central, has been on a much-needed and well-earned sabbatical for the last couple of months, so preaching duties have fallen to myself and our super-fantastic church planting intern (and new dad), Joe Haack. (This is not a joke. He really is super-fantastic.)

Anyway, this last three weeks of the sabbatical, I’ve taken on a series focusing on Christ’s work as our Prophet, Priest, and King.  Naturally, I’ve bungled the recording of the first two sermons — the first one (“Prophet”), I just forgot to start recording before I stepped up to the pulpit, and the second (“Priest”), I forgot that the MacBook we usually use to record wouldn’t be at the church, so I neglected to bring mine.

So, here’s another sermon manuscript for you, this time on Christ as our Priest. This was preached this morning.
Continue reading →

http://www.gracecentral.org/mediafiles/hope-1-peter-113-16.mp3

There it is: my first sermon, preached tonight.

Go easy.

Resolved: with God’s help, to lose not another moment of this life to vanity, but to work, study, pray, teach, play, and even rest with all vigor, to the glory of God.*

I’m 30 today.

* (No, this is not one of Edwards’ Resolutions, but it’s partially inspired by them.)

. . . but I probably shouldn’t wear it to the polls tomorrow.

Family

• Zoë started kindergarten last week.  The initial separation was difficult for her (surprisingly . . . first day of preschool last year was easy), but when we came to get her, everything was great.  She’s really enjoying it, and already doing well, academically and socially.  Amy and I are sending her to a really good Christian school, but we’re not anti-public school or anything.  We’re just anti-THESE public schools around here. (They’re… not good.)
• I still like being married.
• It’s reported that Amy likes it, too

Church

• Things are going well.  We’re planting another Grace Central congregation (with a view toward even more over the next ten years). Folks are being gathered, forming relationships, believing the Gospel, serving eachother.  It’s cool to see Jesus work in and through people.
• Greg has been preaching through the book of Ezra, which is just what we need to hear at this stage — the story of God rescuing his people from exile, and then working through them to build his temple.  He’s doing the same now — his temple now known to be his people, the Church.
• (Feel free to subscribe to Grace Central’s podcast to hear these sermons, by the way.  Maybe you’ll want to come join us! The iTunes link is here, or you can subscribe manually here.)
• I’ll be preaching my first sermon (ever) at Grace Central some time in the next few weeks.  Please pray for me as I study and prepare to deliver God’s Word to his people.
• Home groups are starting back up in a couple of weeks after a Summer hiatus. We’re looking forward to that.

Tech

• I’ve been enjoying Ubiquity, a new experimental extension for Firefox. The best way I can describe it is that it’s like Quicksilver, but for your browser. You should just watch the video and try it out for yourself. It has the potential to change the way we browse.  Seriously.
• We got an Xbox 360 a few weeks ago.  I’ve actually been using it as a media extender (thanks to Rivet and a Linksys WRT54GS w/ DD-WRT firmware — in bridge mode) almost as much as I’ve used it to play games.  The ability to watch HD video podcasts on our TV rather than on my Macbook’s screen is pretty darn nice (not to mention streaming the iTunes library to the TV, as well).
• (My Xbox LIVE gamertag is raekwon00, by the way. Add me as a friend!)
• I added an Airport Express router to our home network (this is in addition to the Airport Extreme and the aforementioned Linksys).  This little thing is fantastic for extending your network’s range or creating a dual-band 802.11n/g network.  It’ll come in handy if I’m ever again in a hotel with wired-only internet as well.

Music

• I wish I had something to report here. I need some new tunes. Suggestions?

Dr. King said . . .

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

I wonder how many of my fellow African-Americans voted for Senator Obama primarily for his color (and rhetorical skill) rather his character (and policies). Of course, no one’s actually allowed to say this. If you’re white and you say this, you’re labeled a racist. If you’re black, you’re a self-hating Uncle Tom.

Ah well.

. . . and get the one pictured/linked here. Seriously fantastic stuff.

Unless, of course, you like your kids learning their Bible stories as simplistic, poorly-illustrated morality plays with absolutely no connection to the person and work of Jesus, that is.  Then, by all means, keep the one you have.

Zoë’s loving hers, and so are Mommy and Daddy.

(* Feeding to the dog or shredding for use as rodent bedding are acceptable substitutes for burning.)

(This particular entry has been started, stopped, deleted, restarted, and re-written a few times already. Not that the version that gets posted will end up being the best, necessarily.)

I’ve been thinking recently of how broken we can (or should) show ourselves to be before eachother — how much of a mess we can admit to being.

See, I had this tendency a few years back to be brutally honest about myself with others, whenever a wave of introspection hit.  Sins and struggles were confessed, and doubts about life and God were publicly hung like laundry set out to dry. I was broken and messy and wasn’t afraid of telling everyone and their mothers. The catharsis that naturally comes with dumping your baggage at the feet of others was gratifying, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t relish the “Rae, your honesty is so refreshing” accolades I occasionally received (particularly when they were from cute girls). There was even this weird, ironic arrogance that cropped up in me . . . as if I was somehow more “together” than others just because I gave voice to my issues. The 29-year-old me of right now would kind of like to punch the 20-year-old me of back then, actually.

[Don't be fooled — this kind of honesty only came in online forums (kind of like . . . what I'm doing right now). Actually seeing another's reaction to the crap you've just laid before them was a step I just wasn't too interesting in taking. Didn't seem safe enough.]

That tendency seems to have disappeared over the past few years, probably for a combination of good reasons (for instance, protecting the privacy of my family and myself) and bad reasons (for instance, thinking that real men don’t give voice to such things). I’d be perfectly satisfied with closing everyone off and putting up the “Perfect PCA Elder and his Perfect PCA Family” front if that pesky Apostle James hadn’t written that whole bit about Christians needing to confess their sins and struggles to one another . . . and since that happened to make into something we call “God’s Word”, it’s probably pretty important that I heed that advice.

So, how do we set our mess out before everyone without falling into despair? On the other side of that coin, how do we do it without becoming satisfied and comfortable with being “messy”? How do we create safety for others to be broken with us, and at the same time, have the courage to lovingly encourage them to get out of the junk that they’ve become so comfortable sitting in?

I don’t know yet. Any thoughts?

Yes, I need to update, and I’ve been intending to for weeks. Just haven’t gotten around to it.

While you wait, here’s a shot from the other night of Zoë with Derek Webb.
(He is short, but not that short. He’s kneeling here.)