the gate

How did Christianity spread so rapidly in the first couple of centuries A.D.? Michael Green gives this answer.

[Ordinary Christians, not primarily the apostles,] went everywhere spreading the good news which had brought joy, release and a new life to themselves. This must often have not been formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the gospel; they did it naturally, enthusiastically, and with the conviction of those who are not paid to say that sort of thing. Consequently, they were taken seriously, and the movement spread.
Evangelism in the Early Church, p. 173

So go ahead, gossip the gospel like they did!

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Back in May, Pablo had posted a clip of Pastor Matt Chandler giving a powerful illustration entitled, “Jesus Wants The Rose.” On November 26, Matt Chandler had a seizure and passed out. He has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Doctors have removed as much of the tumor as possible and will decide on the future course of treatment in the days ahead. Please pray for Matt and his family and church.

In Matt’s response to his cancer, we see a powerful example of the peace and comfort the true gospel gives. Rather than causing fear, guilt, hopelessness, and condemnation like the false health and wealth gospel, the true gospel of Jesus gives real comfort and hope.

You can sense Matt’s peace in this statement he made before his surgery:

I am thankful that I have deep, real friendships at The Village [his church] . . . They have been such a comfort to me and my family this past week. Pastors should have good friends on their staff. It’s risky but worth the risk.

I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.

Below is the statement the church has issued regarding his pathology report. Again, you can hear the peace and honesty it conveys. They are not playing “name it & claim it” games. They’re not living in fantasy like the proponents of the health and wealth delusion. They are being real, which is what the true gospel of Jesus enables us to do.

Dear church,

In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.

You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer. Specifically, pray for the following:

* Wisdom for all the coming decisions
* Strength and peace to endure
* The kids’ (Audrey, Reid and Norah) hearts; pray the Lord is merciful as they process and that their little hearts do not grow embittered
* The Chandlers and The Village would suffer well because of the gospel and for the sake of Christ’s name

As you hurt and weep for the family, do not do it alone. Gather with your home group and with other believers in homes and pray together. This is a time to walk together with others and to endure this trial in community. If you wish, send cards and letters to Matt and Lauren at 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

We will continue to keep you informed as new information is made available. Please be patient with the frequency of the updates. May God strengthen us all and may His glory shine brightly through this.

Two days ago, Matt himself tweeted this:

Path report is 2ndary at best…good report doesn’t mean much, bad report doesn’t mean anything…my days r numbered and nt by ths report.

These posts on illness are not just words to fill space — they are about real life in this world. Only the true Good News of Jesus enables us to deal with the realities of life in this fallen world. I pray that we at Gateway will build our lives and our community according to the true gospel of Jesus. Please pray for those in our fellowship undergoing the trials of illness, and other kinds of trials.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Related posts:
The Christian and Sickness - Part 1
The Christian and Sickness - Part 2
But How Does It Affect You?

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I know, I know . . . Jesus builds his Church. But he works through people. Sunday, I said church is not a spectator sport. We have to work at building relationships. We have to make time for each other. We must care for and about each other. No spectators allowed! (At least, that’s how I understand the Bible.)

I just read a good article by Jonathan Dodson (what is it with this guy? he keeps popping up on my radar screen in different places, and i keep quoting him. i assure you, i don’t have a mancrush on him. it must be providence.) In it, he makes one of the points I was trying to make on Sunday.

We say we want community, but are unwilling to make the sacrifices for it to happen. It’s too inconvenient and messy. We want the benefit of church without her demands. Something has to change.

Why not start with you? What if you started having people join you for meals, Christians and non-Christians. What if you started having family meals together? What if you began to serve your neighborhood in some way and invited some church friends to join you? What if you began to put others’ needs before your own? I wonder what would happen. Fewer acrobats and more brothers? Church would slowly become more of a family than an event.

It’s a good article. He’s honest about Bono (Bono has legitimate criticisms of the Church, but maybe he needs to realize God inhabits and uses communities of flawed people). He points out that building a dynamic church — not entertaining, but radically missional and communal — takes commitment and sacrifice from everyone. He has some great analogies for how churches miss the mark (fortresses, shopping malls, cemeteries). He makes the case that God did not create the Church to be an event. What he says, in other words, is that church is not a spectator sport.

At Gateway, we’re not trying to be “an event” church; we’re trying to build a family. Want to help?

Don’t just go to church; be the church! [click here to read Jonathan’s article]

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The Church seems to suffer from multiple-personality disorder when it comes to Halloween . . . it’s evil / it’s not evil / turn off your lights and hide / have a fall festival / hallelujah, free candy! / etc. Who’s right, and what’s it really all about?

Justin Holcomb has a good post (and this gory picture) on the Resurgence blog. He writes, “Why did Martin Luther nail his famous 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door on October 31, 1517? He was confronting two religious observances that promoted false saintliness and exploited people’s fear of judgment and purgatory. There’s a curious connection between Halloween and Reformation Day, and it’s more than just proximity on the calendar.” (click here to read the rest)

Then, at the Life2gether blog, Doug Wolter quotes Michael Patton:

I can’t believe I am going to say this but, WWJD? Really, what would Jesus do? Can you see it? Jesus with his lights turned off on Halloween? That would be the Jesus history never knew. That would be the Jesus of western fundamentalism. The one who is not a friend of sinners and tax gatherers. The Jesus that was never accused of being a drunkard. The Jesus who looked from a distance at the wedding of Cana waiting for the sinners to wipe the dust off their feet before he talked to them. The Jesus who saw a child dressed up as a Ghost and said, “I can’t take this anymore. It is not worth it. Give me that stone so that I can turn it into bread.”

Mark Young, my friend and former missions prof at DTS (now the president of Denver Seminary), used to talk about this in his missions 101 class. Oh the shame of all of us students who turned off the light. We left the class crying looking for little witches and ghosts to hug. His thesis: Christians are not Christians on Halloween. Not because they have compromised and participated, but precisely because they don’t participate. The one day of the year where children (”Permit them to come to me…” Mark 10:14) were attempting to come to us and we shut the door and turn off the lights.
(click here to read it all)

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“A community of missionaries created by the Spirit on the mission of Christ.”
– Jonathan Dodson

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“You will never lead consumers to be missional.”
– Alan Hirsch

(via Alan Cross)

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another major christian denomination has chosen to set aside clear Biblical teaching on homosexuality and voted to allow openly homosexual people to be ordained and act as clergy.  this is a steady spiral and I don’t really see this being the last of it.  this quote sums up my thoughts pretty well.  it’s a sad day for God’s Church.

“Those who have been actively campaigning for a change of this sort in the other mainline denominations will see this as a sign that they should intensify their efforts,” Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, said in an e-mail. “For those of us who have opposed this on Biblical grounds, it is bound to reinforce the sense that we are no longer welcome in the mainline.”

check out the whole article in the l.a. times

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our brother in prison sent me an article this week that i thought was pretty interesting.  i don’t know anything about the author or the source of the article so i’m not widely endorsing him, but this is an interesting read.

an exerpt:

I believe that Jesus, right now, has both hands outstretched to us. In one hand is revival, and in the other is correction. If we ignore the hand of revival, there is only one hand left—the hand of correction. Correction can bring revival too, but who in their right mind would choose that method?

So, if correction comes, who will we blame? Will we blame Hollywood, adult entertainment, abortionists and the gay community? Probably. We always do. However, from God’s perspective, it’s inaccurate for His people to blame others when the fault lies with them: Both John the Baptist and Jesus began their public ministries by calling for God’s people to repent.  

 

Read the entire article here.

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For Christians the worship service has top priority in the church, but it is not a high priority in the Bible we preach from.  An interesting phenomenon has developed.  In most churches in America, the people are encouraged to join small groups.  These groups are like small spiritual families where all the “one another s” of the New Testament are practiced.  This is indeed the church.  But participating in such groups is usually considered optional, whereas most Christians feel they must attend the Sunday morning worship service.  They think it is the biblical mandate.

The truth is that the New Testament clearly makes mandatory participating in the spiritual family, the small group.  The larger gathering is optional.  This is the very opposite of contemporary practice.  There are many mandates in the New Testament directing people to come together as a church, but it is for service to one another, not a worship service that includes preaching.  We are so immersed in the current forms of ministry that when we read these verses, we read into them an understanding of church that is not contextually accurate.

…

Let me be just state it clearly; attending a church service is not the same as being in a church family.  The church, according to the New Testament, means being involved with one another in an open, vulnerable, and interactive relationship.

…

I hope that I have been clear in this, I am not against weekly worship or the church.  I am not saying in any way that it is wrong to gather together weekly for worship.  I do question, however, the high value we place on the Sunday morning service, often at the expense of practicing the New Testament “one anothers”, which are indeed the true expression of the church.

…

I am not saying that coming together to worship God is wrong or a mistake.  Not at all.  I believe it pleases him when we do, but I also think we can please him as much (if not more) by interacting with one another intimately and personally.

(Neil Cole - Organic Leadership)

** note: i’ll post the “one anothers” in a separate post for more info

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The three of us Pastors of Gateway are going through a book that Steve and I have mentioned here on the blog before. It’s by Michael Horton, host of the the radio program The Whitehorse Inn. The book is Christless Christianity, and is a must for everyone that is serious about their Christian Faith, and the Gospel of the living God.

I wanted to share this with you because it is soooo good.

 It’s important to point out that law and gospel do not simply refer to the Ten Commandments and John 3:16, respectively. Everything in the Bible that reveals God’s moral expectations is law and everything in the Bible that reveals God’s saving purposes and acts is gospel. Not everything in God’s Word is gospel; there are a lot of exhortations, commands, and imperatives. They are to be followed. However, they are not the gospel. Not everything that we need is gospel. We also need to be directed. We need to know God’s commands so we will come clean, acknowledge our sins, and flee to Christ and also so they can direct us in grateful obedience. When it come to doing something, we are answering the law (works); when it comes to believing what has been done for us by Christ, we are answering the gospel (faith). Confused with faith as the means of inheriting God’s gift, our “good works” become the most offensive sins against God. But when faith alone receives the gift, it immediately begins to yield the fruit of righteousness. When even good, holy, and proper things become confused with the gospel, it is only a matter of time before we end up with Christless Christianity: a story about us instead of a story about the Triune God that sweeps us into the unfolding drama.

Please partake and enjoy.

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