the gate

Here are some pictures of our recent Church Picnic and Dodger Game events (courtesy of Enrique Monreal and Maureen Meza).

Click here for all the picnic photos
Click here for all the Dodger game photos

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For many years, I’ve been hearing about cities working against churches. I just read an article in Leadership Journal reporting a situation in which a city did not zone property for church use so they wouldn’t lose any tax revenue. A church sued the city, and the city allowed them to build. The article goes on to say that churches do not always win in these situations.

For those who see it as persecution against the church, some cities write these restrictive zoning laws also to prevent Muslim mosques and Hindu temples from being built. In some cities, colleges, hospitals, and other non-profits that don’t collect sales taxes encounter the same restrictions. The rise of home foreclosures has reduced many cities’ tax revenue, and thus cities are trying to find ways to cover their expenses.

Could we be looking at a day when the house church model may be the best—or perhaps the only feasible—model for starting new churches in the US? In light of our previous discussion of the state of the church in North America, would this be a good thing? Let us know what you think.

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Over on The Gospel-Driven Church blog, Jared quotes Pastor Ray Ortlund, Jr., from his book, A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans. Here’s an excerpt from Ray Ortlund’s Gospel Manifesto.

Pastors and church leaders, in particular, are under enormous pressure today to satisfy the immediate demands of the marketplace at the cost of the gospel. People want what they want when they want it, or they will drive down the street to the First Church of Where-It’s-At to get it. Are we leaders losing our nerve? Have we come to feel that the gospel itself meets people’s needs less convincingly and helpfully? But think about it. Without a clear understanding of the central truths of our faith, where will the wisdom and motivation to live godly lives come from? We are constantly offering people “Five Steps to (whatever)” in answer to their problems. But it is not working. To a shameful degree, we Christians are morally indistinct from the world. Why? One reason is that we think piecemeal, and our lives show it. We do not perceive reality from God’s perspective. We perceive reality from the perspective of our ungodly culture, and then we try to slap a biblical principle onto the surface of our deep confusion. Consequently, very little actually changes. What we really need is not to be pandered to but to be re-educated in reality, as it is interpreted for us by the gospel. We need to know who God really is. We need to find out who we really are. We need to understand what our root problem really is and what God’s merciful answer really is. And we need that new perception of reality to percolate deep down into our affections and desires, reorienting us radically and joyfully to a whole new way of life. But if we frankly feel that the plain old gospel offers very little for people’s real needs, then we have never really known it at all.

We evangelicals today are suffering massive defeat, brilliantly disguised as massive success. A record high 74% of Americans eighteen years of age and older say they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, according to a recent Gallup Poll. That could suggest a high degree of effectiveness in our witness. But at the same time—as if we needed verification of the fact—a survey by the Roper Organization shows little difference in the moral behavior of “born-again” Christians before and after their conversion. If we come under the spell of ratings appeal rather than the imperatives of the gospel, what room can there be for the narrow gate and the hard way? Even as our churches enjoy a measure of outward success, we remain the influenced, not the influential, as long as we shift our power-base from the ways of God to the ways of man, from Spirit-anointed biblical truth to human skills and novelties. Operating in a man-centered rather than a God-centered mode, our churches do not necessarily fail. They stand as good a chance of success as any other franchise network. Some even become popular—but popular as what? As a religious pastime, or as a force for God?

[…]

And why are you so boastful of your numbers and dollars? How poor you really are! Come back to the gospel. Come back to the wellspring of true joy and life and power. Sanctify Christ again as Lord in your hearts. Wake up! Strengthen what remains, for it is on the point of death. But if you will not return to the centrality of the gospel as God’s power for the church today, then what reason does your Lord have for not abandoning you altogether?

I am certain that this marginalizing of the gospel within the American church explains why the church is growing around the world, yet not in America. (No county in America has a greater percentage of churched persons today than a decade ago. click here for more eye-opening facts; or here if that link doesn’t load)

There is hope in the gospel! There is joy in the gospel! There is power in the gospel! There is transformation in the gospel! There is life in the gospel!

The rest of this post at The Gospel-Driven Church is long, but it is well worth taking the time to read. I’d encourage you to click that link and get on over there.

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There’s a really good series about church reform, by Greg Gilbert, on the
9 Marks blog. Check it out.

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor: A Series
“I have thirteen points in mind right now. That may get longer or shorter as we go.” (more…)

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #1
“Reform is easier in a small church than in a large one.” (more…)

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #2
“At the end of the day, reforming a church is mostly about doing the things that Christ expects of his people: loving the saints in your church, pastoring them even when you’re not the pastor, teaching them publicly when you can and with your life and words all the time, and sharing life with this group of Christians with whom you have covenanted.” (more…)

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #3
“With those qualifications in mind, though, it seems to me that in the church, the normal attitude of a godly church member should be to trust his leaders and to help them — not to appoint himself to the role of check-and-balance against the leadership.” (more…)

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #4
“I realize I’m in danger here of sounding like I’m calling for some Macchiavelli-style takeover of a church. I don’t want to do that, which is why I posted numbers 2 and 3 of this series before this one. As a faithful church member, your goal isn’t to weasel your way into leadership and start issuing diktats. It’s to edify the saints.” (more…)

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #5
“That’s how church reform works. You change people’s minds and shape people’s views in private—over coffee, a good book, and a Bible. You don’t change them by offering hostile amendments and making speeches.” (more…)

And if you missed it, in Do You Love God’s Children?, I quoted Pastor Mark Dever, from his book What Is a Healthy Church?, who says, “You and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors and other leaders — you.” (It’s in the pop up note in the “excerpted from…” notation, in case you missed it.)

Anybody can criticize; the question is, what can you construct (build up)?

(Thanks Jared for highlighting this series)

______________________________
Update

Church Reform When You’re Not the Pastor #6

Church Reform When You’re Not (Necessarily) the Pastor #7

Church Reform When You’re Not (Necessarily) the Pastor #8

Church Reform When You’re Not (Necessarily) the Pastor #9

Church Reform When You’re Not (Necessarily) the Pastor #10

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i received a small book in the mail from our brother in jail called “in our joy” by john piper.  he wanted me to read it in hopes that it would minister to me.  for those of you at gateway last sunday, steve talked about how paul was in prison praying for his brothers.  our friend in jail is an amazing brother, one that prays for me (us) and does things like this.  it is quite amazing and humbling.

i started to read it this morning and i felt compelled to post some of it.  chapter 2 is about the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.  but as the title infers, piper’s angle is that while following Jesus brings struggle, it brings even greater joy.  this is the passage from which the title was derived:

matthew 13:44 - the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.  then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

so now, let’s approach the idea of self-denial.  it probably triggered some thoughts in your mind, perhaps things that you have either denied yourself or need to begin to deny yourself.  good…now read this and let it marinate. 

this is the meaning of self-denial.  renounce everything on earth in order that you might have Jesus.  sell all, so that you might have the kingdom.  c.s. lewis captures the spirit of Jesus’ demand for self-denial when he says:

“the New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.  we are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.”

in other words, we deny ourselves because beyond self-denial is great reward.  jonathan edwards goes even deeper in his analysis of how Jesus’ demand for self-denial related to His demand for joy.

“self-denial will also be reckoned amongst the troubles of the godly…but whoever has tried self-denial can give in his testimony that they never experience greater pleasure and joys than after great acts of self-denial.  self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow, and is nothing else but the lancing of a grevious and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation.”

if this is true, then Jesus’ demand for self-denial is another way of calling us to radically pursue our deepest and most lasting joy.  they are not competing commands.  they are like the command to be cancer free and the command to have surgery.

 deeeeeeeeeeeeep.

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Okay, so that wasn’t my original title. The publisher required me to use this one. (wink, wink) You know publishers these days — they like hype and hyperbole (as does almost everyone else it seems).

One of the most common responses I hear in regard to our blog is, “I wish
I had more time to read it.” I do too. We started the blog primarily for dialogue and discipleship purposes. Maybe you’ve seen some blogs that are a total waste of time, and seem to do nothing but complain and quarrel. We want The Gate to be encouraging, upbuilding and informative.

So, how can RSS help you? Well, if you only want to read our blog, maybe it can’t. If this is the one blog you want to read, it would be easier to sign up for the email feed in the left column (if you’re on the main page). Type in your email address, and our updates will come to you via email. Of course, this only helps (1) if you have email, and (2) if you read your email. One drawback is that you can’t be part of the dialogue if you only read the email feed. Sorry, we had to discontinue this service due to problems with the feed.

If, however, you’d like to glean some of the good info from Al Gore’s World Wide Web, RSS can help you. Instead of having to go to various websites, RSS sends them to you, and therefore saves you time. You can find good devotional material, good biblical teaching, good blogs, or news items of interest, if you so choose.

There are many ways to access your RSS feeds. You have to choose a way. I use Bloglines. One reason I like it is because it is a website instead of another program I have to load on my computer (some other readers are web-based also; just bookmark your reader). Thus, I don’t have anything taking up space on my computer. Simply sign-up (it’s free), and when you find a blog or newsfeed you’re interested in, click that orange RSS icon on the website, and tell it where to send it (Bloglines, if that’s what you use). Other options for reading your feeds include Google Reader, My Yahoo, (I’d use one of those if I didn’t use Bloglines) FeedReader, NewsGator, or click here for a longer list.

According to one pastor, he likes RSS feeds because:

(1) he stays more informed;

(2) it saves him time;

(3) it gets him out of his ghetto and his ruts.

I agree.

One last thought. RSS is like electricity . . . you don’t have to fully understand it to use it.

Want more info? Check out Aliza Sherman’s Needing a Gentle Intro to RSS Feeds. If you use Microsoft Outlook 2007, you might want to read this — Using RSS Feeds in Outlook 2007.

¿Hay Preguntas?

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sonia and i spent last week in mexico (sans gabriel) with the dunne’s and i decided to start reading “the divine conspiracy” by dallas willard again on the flight home.  this book is really thick, literally as well as in its content, and i had put it down when i first tried to read it to think over some things.  well, setting it down for a week turned into 6 months so i decided to start the book over again.

a large part of the book is devoted to Jesus’ sermon on the mount.  he recalls Jesus’ words and reminds us that Jesus is not exclusively listing a variety of situations that we should seek to be in, or traits that we should be aspiring towards.  i think i was taught this at times.  but steve spoke on it some months back at gateway and between him and dallas willard, they have me convinced that Jesus was instead teaching us that no matter what situation we do find ourselves in, we are blessed because the Kingdom of God is still for us.  clearly we should hunger and thirst for righteousness and be merciful.  but what about the other stuff?

in other words, Jesus is not telling us that we necessarily should be poor in spirit or mourn, or even be persecuted for that matter.  He is instead saying, essentially, that if you are poor in spirit, mourning, persecuted, marginalized, oppressed, insignificant, poor, rocking a car from 1992 with no AC, socially ackward, physically mediocre, uncool, whatevers….you are blessed because the Kingdom of God is still for you.

it is still for you.  it is still for me.

how beautiful…

Jesus was speaking to the common man in this discourse.  He was speaking to our equivalents, yours and mine. He reminds us that we are blessed, not because the world has esteemed us so, but because He has.

an exerpt from the book:

Jesus did not say “Blessed are the poor in spirit because they are poor in spirit.”  He did not think, “What a fine thing it is to be destitute of every spiritual attainment or quality.  It makes people worthy of the Kingdom.”  And we steal away the much more profound meaning of His teaching about the availability of the kingdom by replacing the state of spiritual impoverishment - in no way good in itself - with some supposedly praiseworthy state of mind or attitude that “qualifies” us for the kingdom.

In doing so we merely sustitute another banal legalism for the ecstatic pronouncement of the gospel.  Those poor in spirit are called “blessed” by Jesus, not because they are in a meritorious condition, but because, precisely in spite of and in the midst of their ever so deplorable condition, the rule of the heavens has moved redemtively upon and through them by the grace of Christ.

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I don’t know if you’re a daily reader of Of First Importance, but if you aren’t, you should be. Today’s post is profound, freeing, and awesome (it provokes awe of God), and it fills my heart with praise and gratitude. We are more pleasing to God now, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, than if we were still in Adam & Eve’s original innocence (pre-fall, pre-sin)! That is an amazing thought! Here’s today’s quote at Of First Importance.

“It is a great sin to think any sin little; but it is a greater sin to think the righteousness of Christ is not above all sin. Our disobedience is the disobedience of man; but Christ’s obedience is the obedience of God: therefore, our believing in Christ doth please God better than if we had continued in innocency, and never sinned. The least sin is unpardonable without this obedience and righteousness of Christ; and the greatest is pardonable by it. Therefore, O seek in to Christ, to be clothed upon with this righteousness.”
- Ralph Erskine, “And Walking in Him, Opened,” in The Works of Ralph Erskine, p. 332, vol. 24.

Do you really have an appreciation of what Christ has done for us? Do you comprehend how glorious and amazing it is? This quote reminds me of something Charles Spurgeon said.

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I read this article by Tony Snow, who passed away losing his battle to cancer on 7/11/2008. He was Press Secretary for President Bush (2006-2007) and a host for the Fox News Channel.

I lost my grandfather to cancer, and my 13 year old cousin to cancer. I know a lot of people affected by this discease. But I found a comfort and such a positive outlook in his attitude toward his illness. It encouraged me and I hope it encourages you regardless of your politics. Please read the whole thing, it is worth it. Here it goes:

Blessings arrive in unexpected packages.

“Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer.

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will.

Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence “What It All Means,” Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to answer the “why” questions:

Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can’t someone else get sick? We can’t answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out. But despite this, - or because of it, - God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.

Second, we need to get past the anxiety.

The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere. To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non believing hearts - an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly - no matter how their days may be numbered.

Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise.

We want lives of simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, - but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance; and comprehension - and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise. ‘You Have Been Called’. Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side. “It’s cancer,” the healer announces. The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. “Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.” But another voice whispers: “You have been called.”

Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter,- and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our “normal time.” There’s another kind of response, although usually short-lived an inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions. The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment. There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, - for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.

Finally, we can let love change everything.

When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf. We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples’ worries and fears.

‘Learning How to Live’

Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God’s arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of love. I sat by my best friend’s bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. “I’m going to try to beat this cancer,” he told me several months before he died. “But if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side.”

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms. Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do? When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to speak of us!

This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God. What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God’s hand.”
Tony Snow

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“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” - Luke 24:27

This should be the daily experience of a Christian. Every time we read the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), we should see Jesus, hear Jesus, and meet with Jesus.

Augustine said, “In every page of these Scriptures, while I pursue my search as a son of Adam in the sweat of my brow, Christ either openly or covertly meets and refreshes me.” *

Is this your experience?

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