In our culture, when we find or see something interesting, we point to that thing/person/issue so that others can see it and understand why we find it intriguing. This is a very basic way of communicating for all types of people everywhere. Pointing, as simple as it is, is one of the only universal ways of communicating, therefore, it is one of the most important ways of communicating. Whatever is most important to us or whatever we feel is most important for others to see is what we point to in word and deed. In short we could say that the things that we love are the very things we point people to.

Sometimes we point to things that fascinate us. Sometimes we point at things that are humorous. Sometimes we point to shift blame or trouble away from us. Sometimes we point to ourselves to take credit for our accomplishments. All in all, everything we do in life points to something as well.

The goal of the life of a Christian is to point to Jesus in all that we do. This is missional living - constantly living in such a way as to point people to Jesus.

We can accomplish this in any setting. Work, sports, fashion, friendships, marriage, child-raising, food, study, serving, and just about everything that can be done for the glory of God.
We must begin to understand that a pure focus on Jesus is not an event, but a lifestyle. It is to be involved in every aspect (great or small) of our lives. We should be pointing to Jesus in all that we do or don't do.

John the Baptist (JTB) knew this to be true in John 3:22-36.

Read the passage.

How do we live lives that point to Jesus?

(4 points)

- 1) We must make Jesus known in faith publicly. (vs. 23) This passage tells us something about Baptism in that it was used to publicly confess Christ to others. Our lives need to be a constant outward confession of Jesus so that others see the truth of Jesus in and through us who have been given the Holy Spirit. We need to live loud enough for others to hear us, live bright enough for others to see us, and live differently enough for others to see a difference in us. We don't have to be ashamed of our Christ. Which leads to...

- 2) We must be counter-cultural. (vs. 26-28) John the Baptist was questioned and doubted in this passage and instead of getting angry and jealous at Jesus, he, by the power of the Spirit, turned people's questions into an opportunity to point people TO Jesus and not AWAY from Jesus. This is counter-cultural! This is how we should live and make Jesus known. Some will question us when we live in opposition of sin, and we need to give an answer that points to Jesus and no one else. This is the purpose of the Christian - to live counter-culturally for the Gospel always showing people how life could and should be in Jesus Christ and in His Kingdom.

- 3) We must give Jesus ALL the credit. (vs. 29-31) It is His anyways! JTB could have, in this moment, been swelled up with pride and taken the credit for what he had accomplished in his ministry, but he did not. Even though people tried to build him up and make him feel important, JTB turned the tables around and gave God the glory for the things that were accomplished. This lets us know that even when we get the first 2 points right, we must not become prideful. There are many people who make Jesus known in public fashion and who live counter-culturally, but then they fall into the religious trap of taking the credit and glory. This is grotesque! When we feel like we are something, we need to become nothing. When we think we need to increase is when we truly need to decrease. It is more about Jesus and His church than ourselves as individuals.

- 4) We must daily remember He is Sovereign. (vs. 19-21) These last verses in chapter 3 give us a great picture of the Holy Trinity in that the Father gives all things to the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. All things are truly in the hands of our Triune God! We need not to forget that He is greatly sovereign, and that He demands our trust. Too many "Christians" testify unto a weak god. They claim Christ, but their lives show that there is no sovereign power that is ultimately leading them. We need to be a testimony of a sovereign God. Don't testify of weakness, testify of His strength! Collapse daily at the foot of the cross begging to know the power and presence of our Holy and magnificent God who is all-knowing and all-powerful. Take time everyday to remember that God is THE ONLY thing that matters, and that without Him we are all hopelessly lost embracing the filth that is human nature. When we daily take time to understand who our God is, we can then clearly communicate to others who He is. We can show others what a gracious God we have in Jesus and that He stands to judge those who do not recieve His testimony - just like JTB did at the end of the text.

Christian, take time to remember your sovereign God and then you will not be able to contain it - you will point others to Him.

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taken from my sermon @ The Realm on 5/6/09 entitled "The Art of Pointing"
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Missional: Culture Is A River (A Plea for Missions in the City)

In America, the church does a lot of griping about the condition of the American culture. Whether it is from the pulpit or a layman’s opinion, the church is always vehemently talking about the increasing corruption that is plaguing our nation.
People are always very upset with certain television stations for allowing such grotesque content to be programmed or they are discouraged by who or who doesn’t get elected into office. They can’t believe what kinds of music are becoming popular or how Hollywood gets away with making such trashy films under the PG-13 rating. The church is always disgruntled at how the public school systems are seemingly going to hell in hand-basket cause prayer is ceasing and the Ten Commandments are forbidden and tolerance for everything but Jesus is being taught under the so-called “fact” that we evolved from monkeys from a big bang that makes as much sense as a fully functional automobile being formed by a tornado sweeping through a junkyard. So then the question must be asked…

How is the church supposed to make/change culture when the Gospel is so counter-cultural?

Answer…

Getting as far upstream as you can.

Culture or “Cultura” is the cultivation of the soil, mind, and spirit including our values, beliefs, customs and arts. It encompasses the stories we tell, the behaviors we have and the people/things we treasure.

Biblical History of Culture and the Gospel

Before Jesus ascends into heaven, He tells the disciples that they will go into very different cultures and different cities/countries to spread the Gospel, but notice the methods of how the message spread in the early church periods.

For example, Paul was sent as a Missional minister to different major cities almost completely ignoring the outskirts and rural areas. Think of his Missional territory for a moment: Rome, Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Galatia, etc.

Back then it was more common for churches to meet in larger urban areas and for the pagans to surround the city in the more rural, farming areas. Nowadays we have seen a complete shift in which more churches are in rural areas than in the city. This is true for a few reasons:
1) Safety has become a problem in major urban areas dealing with increased crime rates;
2) Christians believe they keep their innocence and purity by moving away from progressive culture and sin; and
3) Churches fail to contextualize the Gospel and change methods to reach more people for the Gospel resulting in creating a sub-culture that is satisfied with keeping things the way they have always been.

What the church has somewhat failed to see is that when Christians run away from culture and cities, it gets worse. In essence, the church has added to the problem instead of being a part of the solution, which is advancing the Kingdom of God.

Culture As A River

Jesus calls us the light of the world, and He then says that we are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14)

Now imagine with me that there is a river flowing down from that “city on a hill” and that river represents culture, as we know it.

If Christians move off of that hill and away from the city and away from major cultural spots, they are all of the sudden downstream of the river of culture.
They are now getting closer to the end of the filter of culture instead of being where culture is created. We must understand that TV, Radio, Movies, Books, Fashion, Attorneys and Judges that pass laws, Politicians, Money, and ultimately all beliefs and values come from upstream in the city and filter downstream to the outskirts and rural areas. And we can’t fool ourselves into thinking that our rural influence will ever flow upstream. It doesn’t happen like that. Nothing from the bottom of the river flows back up to the top. What happens on the farm does not catch fire in the city. Culture flows from city to suburbs to rural areas.

So….

We ought not be shocked when corruption increases on our tv sets, on the radio, in politics, in our judicial systems, and in our schools if we are not there having any influence or impact on where culture is made. We are only getting what is being filtered from the city upstream. That explains why Christians downstream get sick because the river is so polluted and filled with junk and garbage. They are then stuck trying to filter out the garbage for their families’ sake, but the longer they remain downstream, the more contaminated the river becomes.

(Before I lose your attention, I want to take a second to say that it is not a sin to be a church in a rural area. People need Jesus there too. In fact, God desires that rural churches exist especially as a result of church plants overflowing from the city.)

BUT if we want so badly the culture to change for the glory of God, we must infiltrate where culture is made, not where culture is filtered.

How can we make culture for the glory of God?

Take the Gospel as far upstream as possible so that others have the Living Water of Christ flowing down from the river of culture.

In our recent past as the church, we have thought that mass evangelistic events in more suburban churches are the solution for culture change. While there is nothing wrong with mass evangelism because it has been used by the Lord to change many hearts, it is not the solution for changing culture into a Kingdom culture. Why? Because changing culture isn’t about the number of people converted, but about the amount of converted people engaging in changing culture upstream.

In an interesting Sociological Study, a man named James Davidson Hunter (professor of Sociology at University of Virginia) did a study of major city and culture, and how culture has progressed throughout history. In his study, he described how on the electoral map (blue/red), those in major cities voted liberal and those outside the city voted more conservative. When the liberal team wins, those people in the rural areas become disgruntled and/or paranoid of the future of the country. He then came to the conclusion that it is not the amount of people that believe something, but where they live in the cultural stream.
To make more of a point, less than fifteen years ago, the American Psychiatric Association claimed that homosexuality was a disorder. It is now a celebrated alternative lifestyle even though if we polled the entire U.S., the majority of people would still say they don’t approve of it.

So how did this happen then?

It wasn’t because the majority of people got together and said this is how we want it.

It is because people in the cities with culture changing abilities and vision approve of it.

Oh, the power of a few!

Additionally, about 23 billion people have lived on the earth between 650BC – 1900 AD. The number of those who have assisted in creating culture as we know it is as few as 150 and no more than 3,000! WOW.

So here’s the deal.

Evangelism is needed, and people do need Jesus in rural areas, but for the Gospel to change culture and take full effect as the Great Commission, some need to be diligent in getting as far upstream as possible.

The content for this blog is attributed in great detail to Mark Driscoll’s sermon at the 20/20 conference in Raleigh, NC in Feb. of 2009 and for more info check out his books entitled Vintage Church and The Radical Reformission

Missional: Nicodemus & Jesus - a bold story

The story of Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3:1-21 is actually a widely mis-taught passage in that most people see this as a conversion story for Nicodemus. Yet there is nothing in this passage that clearly lets us know that this is when Nicodemus became a Christian even though we know, by means of John 19:39, that he may have become a follower of Christ in his lifetime. On the contrary, it seems that this passage was just the beginning of Nicodemus' journey of understanding what it means to find life in Jesus.

If we study this passage, we actually see a very convicting explanation of what it means to be truly born again. Nicodemus, though curious, was more inquisitive than accepting in his conversation with Jesus.

Look at all of what Nicodemus says:

- "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."

- "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?"

- "How can these things be?"

Now look at what Jesus says about Nicodemus at this time:

- "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

- "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?"

- "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony."

- "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that he is not born again in relation to the Kingdom. Jesus uses the terms born again and the Kingdom to help illustrate that when one is reborn, he is spiritually regenerated to live in community of the Kingdom of God.

What is the Kingdom?
Here is a good working definition of the Kingdom thanks in part to Vance Pitman (pastor of Hope Baptist in Las Vegas, Nevada)
The Kingdom is.... the past, present and future activity of God in the world bringing people into right relationship with Him.

So, in essence, Jesus is telling Nicodemus why he is not born again (at this time):

1) He doesn't see the Kingdom of God
2) He doesn't enter and participate in the Kingdom of God
3) He doesn't understand the Kingdom of God
4) He doesn't live out the Kingdom of God

Also I find it interesting that Nicodemus came to Jesus in a not-so-bold manner at night. In fact, in John 19:39, that is how Nicodemus is referred to - the one who came to Jesus by night. You see Nicodemus was a very important ruler of the Jews who was curious about Jesus, but didn't want others to really know that he was interested so he came to Jesus at night instead of during the day. He waited until after he was done with a long day of Pharisaical work to sneak out to see Jesus when none of his Pharisee buds would catch him. The issue here is that Jesus calls him out on it and finishes the conversation with a very convicting analogy of light and darkness. He is letting Nicodemus know that if you are born again, people are going to know because it will be clearly seen by others. He explains that if you truly are a believer of Him then you will come to the light and come to the surface and your works will reflect His life.

Let this penetrate into your heart and read carefully cause this can be very convicting and life-changing.

John 3:19-21

¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

²¹But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

This is not a story of conversion, this a story of recognizing how lost Nicodemus truly was. Before one is born again, they must understand how lost they are.

The last recorded saying of Nicodemus in this passage was this. "How can these things be?"
And that is the underlying question that lost people are asking the church.

What is our answer?

Missional: Culture Makers (4/4)

There are basically 4 types of Christian organizational groups that exist in a general sense. Only one of the four seeks to make/change culture for the benefit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1)Hyper-Fundamentalists
2)Liberals
3)Para-churchers
4)Missionals
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Today, I will discuss the 4th and final group:

4)Missionals
(Gospel + Church + Culture = The Missional Church)

Well, what does Missional mean?

Most people will immediately think that Missional refers to having a heart for foreign nations, and desiring to bring Jesus to a different country or continent. And while being Missional does encompass reaching foreign lands with the Gospel, it mainly involves the community where God has put you. Sometimes Christians have no concept that they are missionaries in their culture, and that is why God has put them there.

Read Jeremiah 29:4-7 (ESV)
⁴"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.

⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

God specifically sends His people into cultures. Babylon was one of the most wicked of cultures (founded by a guy with the name Nimrod which should tell you something), and yet God sent His people into that wicked culture to live in the culture and love and seek the welfare of the city. This applies to every Christian.

As a church, to be Missional is to not forsake the culture or reflect the culture or follow the culture, but make culture by being a city within a city. This is giving the people in culture a cultural alternative with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do sex, money, power, fame, dating, and relationships differently as a city within a city. And we do these things in public to give a counter-cultural view of how life could and is supposed to be in Jesus. This is a Kingdom view of life.

Additionally, this is exactly what Jesus did!

Jesus left the culture and community of heaven and came down to earth to live as a man to ultimately suffer and die for the sins of the very culture He came to. He went from heaven to earth to minister and serve in culture. He lived counter-culturally. He went in to culture (though He was not OF the culture) to show the culture a counter-cultural Gospel lifestyle through power, presence, holiness and grace of Himself.

Being Missional also involves contextualizing the Gospel. This concept scares people because they immediately think you are changing the Gospel to reach more people. That is far from the truth! You should NEVER change the Gospel, you should, however, change the methods in which you present it in order to make it clear to the culture you are in. Just like foreign Missionaries will train and adapt for a foreign culture, we too must figure out ways to best reach people in the cultures and communities around us. This gets the whole church body involved in church reaching lost people instead of being spectators of a production-type worship service. The Missional church trains their people to be missionaries in the culture in which the church exists. This entails participating in the culture much like Jeremiah 29:4-7 presents. All in all it is about relationships. How can you build relationships with lost people if you extract yourself and your family from culture? Going door to door as a stranger talking to strangers has very little Kingdom impact solely because the people you visit don't know you - they don't know if you really believe what you are saying - they don't see the Gospel at work in your life - they don't have any concept of what it means to be a part of the church. Much like someone coming by your door saying that they have a vacuum cleaner that will change your life and it will never break and by the way it cost $45,000. Wanna buy it? No, you want to see it work. You want to see the truth lived out before you. You want someone you trust to testify that it works - not some stranger in which you have to put your faith in.

To sum it up:
To be Missional is to live counter-culturally in culture presenting an alternative Kingdom lifestyle based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and do so publicly so it can be clearly seen by lost people.

Jesus says in John 17:15
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Jesus desire us to be missional in our culture.
This is the heart of the great commission.

more to come soon on being Missional...

for more info: check out Mark Driscoll's Vintage Church and Radical Reformission

Interesting Videos just for You...

Here are a couple of videos that might humor you grab your attention.

Tim Keller on MSNBC "Morning Joe"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Stephen Colbert "stands up for the Scripture" ?

Missional: Culture Makers (3/4)

There are basically 4 types of Christian organizational groups that exist in a general sense. Only one of the four seeks to make/change culture for the benefit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1)Hyper-Fundamentalists
2)Liberals
3)Para-churchers
4)Missionals
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Today, I will discuss the 3rd group:

3)Para-churchers
(Gospel + Culture - Church = Para-church)

Para-church ministries are definitely not all bad. They serve some very good purposes. On the flip side, I don't believe it is biblical to strive after para-church ministries unless the end is to begin a new church. This is simply because the Bible seeks to advance the Kingdom of God through His church. Paul harped on the church at Corinth because they actually were dividing the congregation into separate para-church ministries where some wanted to learn from Paul, some from Peter, some from Apollos, and some from Christ. This was not a denomination split, but one church losing folks to para-church ministries that ultimately hurt what God wanted to do in His Kingdom. (1 Cor. 1:12-13)

Para-churches are also dangerous because they sometimes result in people no longer seeing the need for local church community as long as they believe they are ok just attending a weekly Bible study or Campus Crusade meeting / Baptist Student Union / RFU / etc. ATTN COLLEGE STUDENTS: These are not church! And if this is all you have, you are not following the biblical example of a missional church! You may have the Gospel, you may have community, but you do not have true discipleship, church discipline, true accountability, biblical tithes and giving, elder headship, deacon service, and pastoral preaching/teaching, and much much more...

Para-churches can be done successfully if done within the right context with regard to the local church, but that is hard and a little unnecessary. Most para-church ministries actually become church parasites using the local church to help fund, provide resources, and ultimately produce customers from the church resulting in some people disregarding the local church altogether. God is not pleased with our efforts to stim away from the church in creating ministries apart from the church with the goal of keeping away from the church in order to reach people. The local church simply needs better leadership, creativity, discipline and courage to produce these types of ministries itself.

This is hard to swallow being a person who has hosted many Bible study events outside of church myself. I am even presently engaged in leading a young adult ministry called 28:19 in Olive Branch, MS. The only difference is that the end in mind now is to become a Missional Church Plant in the near future. Backyard Bible Studies are not all bad, but they are not church.

In addition, para-churches are sometimes intended to bring to the table what the church cannot, and for a lot of people this just means trying to produce an event to get high on Jesus. There was a historical religious group called the Essenes who were very similar. They just went from event to event trying to escalate their spiritual high-ness, but in between these events, their lives were strangely fruitless. They would withdraw themselves to try and have an incredible experience that they couldn't get at church and that is what they based their spirituality on. Curiously, this is what youth ministries try to provide when they host summer camps or weekend disciple-nows or retreats. They provide an event outside of church that is so great and experiential that students bleed with tears thinking God has really shown out and they repent unto salvation seemingly year after year and when they get back home they wonder why they don't feel the same love or have the same intoxicating drive as they did during that rally or event. They simply go from event to event apart from "boring" church to try to fix themselves spiritually. We need to rethink our efforts fellow student-ministers! I am not a camp hater, but I am if you know what I mean. Students need to see that our church services are not boring but necessary for sanctification and life change. Some student ministers don't even try to make their week to week services any good - they spend like 30 mins on the sermon and such - and this trains our kids to be Essenes with a para-church mentality. They will always be searching for the high. They will eventually turn to other things.

Jesus says in John 17:15
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Jesus is speaking of the CHURCH. He wants to accomplish Kingdom growth through the Church as a local body in community and culture representing the Gospel!

Function with the church and not apart from the church

(to be continued...) Next Post: Missionals

for more info: check out Mark Driscoll's Vintage Church and Radical Reformission
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Missional: Culture Makers (2/4)

There are basically 4 types of Christian organizational groups that exist in a general sense. Only one of the four seeks to make/change culture for the benefit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1)Hyper-Fundamentalists
2)Liberals
3)Para-churchers
4)Missionals
__________________________________
Today, I will discuss the 2nd group:

2)Liberals
(Church + Culture - Gospel = Liberalism)

Jesus encountered Liberals during His time on earth as well. The cultural Liberals in NT times were a group called the Sadducees that took religion and mixed it with much compromise. They were the ones who tried to look the most socially acceptable in the culture. They did not strive for the Gospel or even holiness, but they instead sought after the best social status possible. Popularity became their god essentially. They were known more as cultural accommodators that would quickly give up on hard teachings of the Scripture in order to seem more politically accurate. They gave up the Gospel in their churches. So Liberalism is really nothing new.

Today, a Liberal church is sometimes hard to pinpoint if one is not sound in the Scriptures. They put on a cloak of humility that some people are drawn to. They do really good things in and for the community and culture that seem to be real beneficial and biblical, but they neglect certains teachings that would harm their attendance or social status. That is why if you are not biblically sound yourself, it will be hard to realize what they are NOT teaching. They have pretty good cultural habits as far as being environmentally friendly and trying to help the poor and helping widows which is extrememly important, but what they teach people about the Bible is very dangerous.

Liberals tend to leave out repentance, the cross, blood and the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Savior in their doctrine and teaching. Some have even abandoned the pulpit to have open discussion or dialogue about what is right and wrong and what other religions have to offer us as well. Many essential teachings of the Bible are "take it or leave it" according to the Liberals. They believe that there is no real way to know what Jesus meant when He spoke in the Scriptures - so to be absolute about the Bible is to be arrogant. The liberal cloak of humility is one that makes the Scripture an obsolete book written by men just like any other book. In other words, to know something for sure is to be prideful. This is a horrendous teaching that saddens and angers the heart of God especially after He poured Himself into a book written through the power of the Holy Spirit with full salvific revelation once for all delivered to the saints=us.

The problem is that they sin by forsaking the truth of the Gospel and in so doing they have made culture their god rather than the true God. They still have church (though it is weird that they are selling to people what people already believe) and they will always be somewhat prevalent. The result of Liberalism is that they reflect the culture back at the culture rather than reflecting Jesus to the culture. Mark Driscoll calls them the "Mirror" churches because they are just the same as the culture. They eventually compromise on sins and make them normal functions in the church such as: homosexuality, abortion, women as pastors of churches, and allowing more than one way to heaven. Another result is that there is no real cultural transformation taking place because when there is no Gospel and no personal holiness amidst a dark culture then there is nothing new. They are disobedient and grotesque! In reality, they just have fancy ways of saying, "We Think God Is Wrong." Another tragic result of Liberalism is that it scares the Hyper-fundamentalists into their own corner of Christianity.

Hyper-fundamentalists see the Liberal church as the greatest threat. They see that the Liberals have made culture their God so, in turn, they will just be the polar opposite and flee from cultural association altogether.

Jesus, in the same Scripture as we discussed above, prayed that we would keep from Liberalism as well as Hyper-fundamentalism.
John 17:15
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

Jesus says that we are sent as missionaries by God and that we should not leave the world, but since we are in the world, we should be sanctified by the Scriptures (vs 17) and not give in to sin and Satan.

Be Light in darkness.
(to be continued...) Next Post: Para-churchers


For more info: refer to Mark Driscoll's Vintage Church and Radical Reformission.