Three Streams

 Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck have brought out another book, this time tackling critics of institutional church. I really enjoyed their book on the emergent church and I gave it a mostly favourable review.

I finished their second book in a matter of days and I enjoyed a lot of what was written. I agree with a lot of what was written. However, the book left me feeling uncomfortable in several areas.

1. Their are too many ‘broad strokes’ in this book. In fact it could be said that the book is one huge broad stroke. DeYoung in particular attempts to lump every critic of the church together along with every modern ecclesiologist and attempts to respond and correct to all of them. This creates the problem of not dealing with authors fairly.
2. Those who are meeting together in new ways for missiological purposes are criticised as harshly as those who are abandon church altogether. The missiological expressions of church were really not dealt with fairly. Nothing was mentioned of Mark Driscoll or the Acts 29 network who would undoubtedly share DeYoung’s theology of salvation but would differ greatly in his criticism of missiology.
3. Organic church people are slated quite heavily for their criticism of the institutional church. While some of the criticism are valid i.e their weak view of preaching, to simply regard organics as people who have commitment issues is simply unfair. In many cases those in organic churches are far more committed to each other than those who only gather a few times a week. Secondly, Deyoung only tackles Viola’s Pagan Christianity, and as a result often misrepresents Viola’s views. In order to get the full picture you would have to read Viola’s Re imagining Church and other materials. In many ways I probably agree more with Deyoung’s view of church than I do Viola’s however I have to say some of the strengths of Viola and organic church were completely overlooked and at times mocked. One chapter revealed a real lack of understanding of Viola’s teaching on ‘body participation’ and it also revealed a lack of charismatic experience in this area. In DeYoung’s church people obviously have not learned how to be led by the Holy Spirit in open and participatory meetings. This is sad as having experienced this level of fellowship and ministry myself, it is a very edifying and Christ exalting experience. If only the Reformed churches had embraced the charismatic movement!
4. There comes across a real lack of spirituality in the book. I think this perhaps comes from the fact that intellectualism can be predominant in Reformed churches and there can be a lack of emphasis on the inner spiritual life. The Christian life is not just about believing the facts of the gospel it is also about entering into the life of Christ that is now possible through the cross and resurrection.

Overall some of the dangers of the new models of church are highlighted well, particularly their abandonment of the gospel. However, the guys reminded me of a debate I once had on a reformed discussion board regarding the question ‘Did the Reformation go far enough in ecclesiology?’ You would have thought I had been promoting a real heresy by asking this question! Most of the people who responded were reformed Presbyterians who were convinced that their particular view of the church was the complete restoration of what had been corrupted through Roman Catholicism! The argument went a bit like, ‘we are happy with church as it is, we are biblical, to suggest otherwise is to depart from the bible’. I found it interesting that most of the baptists on that board were rather quiet during ecclesiological discussions. Church history shows that the church has had to continually renew itself and reform. Institutionalism can easily become an oppressive system that kills all spiritual life.

For those who want to practice new forms of church but want to abandon the gospel (or church) this book is a good corrective, however for those who who love the gospel  and care about the wellbeing and growth of the church this book will prove very frustrating at points.

 Here is a link to an audio version of the sessions delivered at the Acts 29 Boot Camp in London.

^{1 Thess 2:3}For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. ⁴On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. ⁵You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed-God is our witness. ⁶We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

“Entrusted with the gospel”. These were the words that rang out from the pulpit on Sunday morning. Our guest speaker was retired baptist minister Rev W Wright.

The message was timely, powerful and prophetic. If ever there was a time in which the church of Christ needed to be reminded of what it means to be “entrusted with the gospel” now is that time!

We are living in times when very few who claim to believe in Christ have grasp of the gospel. Worse still, we are living in a time when very few leaders of God’s people have a grasp of the everlasting gospel of Christ. To some extent this is not a new situation. The gospel has always been in the firing line because the gospel alone delivers lost men and woman from the grip of sin, Satan and eternal destruction.

In our passage there is one interesting factor. Paul links a mans motive with his message. Is the message impure? Then it is very likely that the messenger is impure. Is the message pure? Then good chance that the messenger is pure? Why is this? The gospel is itself the great purifying message. When a person embraces the gospel they embrace a deep cleansing from the filthy stain of impurity. When the gospel touches a persons life that person knows something of what it is to seek the praise of God and not man. A man untouched by the gospel knows nothing of the depths of impurity of his own soul.

Embracing the gospel carries not only the blessings of cleansing but also the responsibility of embodying the gospel and taking it to others. Yet the gospel does not invoke the praise of man, instead it will often invoke hostility. Many modern professors of faith in Christ have opted for an easier road. They have not remained faithful to the preaching of the cross of Christ. They say nothing about the sinfulness of mankind and the burning wrath of a righteous God. They say nothing of the blood of Christ which was shed to absorb the wrath of God for salvation of sinners. They say nothing of the exclusivity of ssalvation which is through faith in Christ alone. They say nothing of the judgement to come. And any mention of the everlasting condemnation of the wicked is nowhere to be found. One would think that these matters are optional extras rather than the very foundations of the gospel.

In the Old Testament there were two types of prophet, the false prophet and the true prophet. What distinguished them? One spoke the words of God and the other spoke vain imaginations. One brought an ear tickling message that left people in sin the other brought a sharp message that convicted of sin and aimed to restore people to God. One brought false hopes the other brought truth and reality. One sought the acceptance and praise of the masses the other sought the praise of God alone.

What are our motives in ministry? Are we in ministry for personal gain? Are we in it for the adoration of the people? Do we serve God out of selfish ambition? If so it is very unlikely that our message is pure. Are we preaching Christ? Do we preach repentance? Do we understand the centrality of the new birth? Are we submitted to the authority of the Word of God? If not it is very likely that our motives are impure. And if so we need to repent and embrace the cleansing work of Calvary. Are you called of God? If so remember that you have been “Entrusted with the gospel”.

Wilderness Period

I’m sensing a leading of the Lord to lay the blog aside for a season. ‘There is a season for everything under the sun’, so the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us. A time for speaking and a time for listening. In modern speak there is a time for blogging and a time for getting on your face before God. For me it is time for the latter. The former without the latter, to quote from Ecclesiastes again is ‘meaningless’.

If you are a regular visitor and you love the Lord then please pray for me during this time as I lay aside blogging and preaching engagements in order to seek his face.

Blessings in Christ Jesus

John

We need voices from the past-like Andrew Murray, Corrie Ten
Boom and Charles Spurgeon-to help us find our way to the
future.

During a visit with my parents in Georgia, two of my daughters
asked if they could listen to a tape recording my father made in
1962 when I was only 4 years old. So my dad rummaged through
some drawers and found the old reel-to-reel tape, which was
amazingly still intact. Then he went to the garage and found the
old Realistic tape player that no one in the family had used since
the Nixon administration.

To our surprise the scratchy tape actually played without breaking,
and my girls laughed when they heard me-in a babyish Southern
drawl-describing a Florida vacation and a fishing trip with my
grandfather. After my “interview,” it switched to an older recording
made in 1956. It included a conversation with my dad’s mother,
who died before I was born.

It was eerie to hear her voice. I’d never heard it before yet it
sounded hauntingly familiar. After that brief segment of the tape
ended we listened to comments from my other three grandparents
-all of whom died in the 1960s or 1970s. Their voices unearthed
long-buried but fond memories.

These sounds from the past reminded me of some other distant
voices I have been listening to recently. They are the voices of
dead Christians-writers of classic books and songs that we are
close to forgetting today.

Their names are probably somewhat familiar to you. Jonathan
Edwards. John Wesley. Charles Finney. Catherine Booth.
Andrew Murray. Evans Roberts. Charles Spurgeon. Fanny
Crosby. E.M. Bounds. Watchman Nee. A.W. Tozer. William
Seymour. A.B. Simpson. Corrie Ten Boom. Leonard Ravenhill.
Fuchsia Pickett.

All of them could be labeled revivalists. All challenged the
Christians of their generation to embrace repentance and humility.
They understood a realm of spiritual maturity and a depth of
character that few of us today even aspire to obtain.

When I read their words I feel much the same way I did after
hearing my grandparents’ voices on that old tape. I feel as if I am
tapping into a realm of spirituality that is on the verge of extinction.

What was the secret of these great Christians who left their
legacies buried in their books? They considered humility,
selflessness and sacrifice the crowning virtues of the Christian
journey. They called the church to die to selfishness, greed and
ambition. They knew what it means to carry a “burden” for lost
souls. They saw the glories of the kingdom and demanded total
surrender. They challenged God’s people to pursue obedience-
even if obedience hurts.

Even their hymns reflected a level of consecration that is foreign in
worship today. They sang often of the cross and its wonder. Their
worship focused on the blood and its power. They sang words of
heart-piercing conviction: “My richest gain I count but loss / And
pour contempt on all my pride / Forbid it Lord that I should boast /
Save in the death of Christ, My God.”

In so many churches today the cross is not mentioned. The blood
is avoided because we don’t want to offend visitors. And worship
is often a canned performance that involves plenty of rhythm and
orchestration but little or no substance. We can produce noise,
but often there is no heart … and certainly no tears.

In the books Christians buy today you will find little mention of
brokenness. We are not interested in a life that might require
suffering, patience, purging or the discipline of the Lord. We
want our blessings … and we want them now! So we look for
the Christian brand of spiritualized self-help that is quick and
painless.

We’re running on empty. We think we are sophisticated, but like
the Laodiceans we are actually poor, blind and naked. We need
to return to our first love but we don’t know where to begin the
journey.

These voices from the past will help point the way. I’ve found
myself drawn to reading books by Ravenhill, Ten Boom, Murray
and Spurgeon in recent days. I’ve even pulled out an old hymnal
and rediscovered the richness of songs that I had thrown out
years ago-because I thought anything old couldn’t possibly
maintain a fresh anointing.

I realize now that I must dig for this buried treasure. We will never
effectively reach our generation if we don’t reclaim the humility,
the brokenness, the consecration and the travail that our spiritual
forefathers considered normal Christianity.

-J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

SOURCE: http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones