GRACE & PEACE

Author: Dennis Griffith

  • Lord of Heaven & Earth

    Michael Horton, in his book The Gospel Commission, offers this important corrective perspective of Christ:

    The privatized view of Jesus merely as ‘personal Lord and Savior’ does not really provoke controversy today.  After all, our non-Christian neighbors shrug: ‘Whatever works for you’.  However, these ascriptions of praise to Jesus Christ were subversive on the lips of early Christians in the Roman Empire. After all, they were titles that Caesar had ascribed to himself.  People could believe whatever they wanted to in private.  Whatever they found morally useful, therapeutically valuable, or spiritually and intellectually enlightening was fine.  In fact, when it came to gods, the more the merrier.  The Roman Empire was a melting pot of cultures and religions.  However, whatever varied religions and spiritualities it tolerated, Rome insisted that they contribute to the civil religion that included the cult of the emperor.  God could have his heaven, or the inner soul, but Caesar was ‘Lord of the Earth’.

    The early Christians were not fed to wild beasts or dipped in wax and set ablaze as lamps in Nero’s garden because they thought Jesus was a helpful life coach or role model, but because they witnessed to him as the only Lord and Savior of the world.  Jesus does not just live in the private hearts of individuals as the source of an inner peace. He is the Creator, Ruler, Redeemer, and Judge of all the earth. And now he commands everyone everywhere to repent.

    Horton’s contrast between the early days and the common contemporary caricature is stark.  While the contemporary view is not so much wrong as it is deceivingly inadequate, we would do well to recalibrate any simple ‘Jesus meek and mild’ notions by reflection on the provocative power portrayed in the testimony of the Forefathers of our Faith.

  • 5 Life Changing Gospel Perspectives

    There are 5 perspectives from the gospel that, when embraced and frequently pondered, shape lives:

    • The need to recognize that God calls for ongoing and continual growth and change in all of us.
    • The need to understand the extent and gravity of our sin.
    • The need to understand that the heart is central; that behavior and attitude is a reflection of the heart.
    • The need to understand the present benefits of Christ.
    • The need to live a Lifestyle of Repentance & Faith.

    Source: How People Change by Tim Lane & Paul David Tripp

  • Gospel Fluency pt 2

    I have been listening these past few days to the audio of Jeff Vanderstelt on Gospel Fluency.  The concept of Gospel Fluency is simply to learn to speak the language of the gospel, and gospel-centeredness, in every aspect of our everyday lives.

    Like any language, the the vernacular surrounding gospel-centeredness may initially feel somewhat foreign, with all the theological concepts and jargon.  Compounding the uneasyness may be the fact that some of the words sound familiar, still it is not our native tongue. The only remedy, the only way to become fluent, is to immerse ourselves  in it.

    In this second video Jeff builds upon a solid foundation of gospel understanding, and outlines the practical steps toward Gospel Fluency.  The message is just over one hour, but it will be an hour well spent.

    I don’t know the dates and details yet, I do know Gospel Fluency will soon be released as a book.

  • Gospel Fluency pt 1

    I have been listening these past few days to the audio of Jeff Vanderstelt on Gospel Fluency.  The concept of Gospel Fluency is simply to learn to speak the language of the gospel, and gospel-centeredness, in every aspect of our everyday lives.

    Like any language, the the vernacular surrounding gospel-centeredness may initially feel somewhat foreign, with all the theological concepts and jargon.  Compounding the uneasyness may be the fact that some of the words sound familiar, still it is not our native tongue. The only remedy, the only way to become fluent, is to immerse ourselves  in it.

    In this first video Jeff introduces the concept of Gospel Fluency, and lays a firm foundation of gospel understanding.  The message is just over one hour, but it will be an hour well spent.

    I don’t know the dates and details yet, I do know Gospel Fluency will soon be released as a book.

  • Numbering Those on the Ranch

    With the following illustration, Alan Hirsch offers a different way of gauging a church’s effectiveness:

    In some farming communities, the farmers might build fences around their properties to keep their livestock in and the livestock of neighbor farms out.  This is a bounded set. But in rural communities where farms or ranches cover an enormous geographic area, fencing a property is out of the question. In our home of Australia, ranches (called Stations) are so vast that fences are superfluous. Under these conditions a farmer has to sink a bore and create a well, a precious water supply in the Outback.  It is assumed that livestock, though they will stray, will never roam too far from the well, lest they die.  That is centered set.  As long as there is a clean supply of water the livestock will remain close by.

    The essential difference is between measuring Influence instead of simply membership and/or attendance.  The bounded-set, as Hirsch calls it, draws a clear line between those on the inside (i.e. members and regular attenders) and those outside.  The centered-set, on the other hand, measures how many people are in some relation to the ministry of the church and gauges the various relative distances from the center values.

    Though I do not see these grids as being mutually exclusive, as if one must choose one or the other, I do find Hirsch to have provided a helpful distinction.

    In our church, for instance, we have some precious members who do not regularly participate in any of the Life of the Church. They come occasionally to any number of things, including infrequently to the Sunday morning worship service. To assume we are having an active influence in their spiritual growth would be, at best, presumptuous. On the other hand, there are people who are not members of our church, nor even attenders, but who are being actively influenced through ministries of counseling, discipleship, mercy, etc.  While these folks are not part of the quantifiable membership, they are nevertheless beneficiaries of the mission of the church.   In many ways some of these folks are closer to our center-set than are some of the irregular members.

    So again, as I think about it, I see both of these grids as being beneficial.  In fact, I would hope to see growth on both gauges.  We long to see our influence expand, and realize that many whom we influence will never become part of our congregation. Some are members of other churches, and therefore should stay there and bless the people in those churches.  But we also should be laboring, and praying, for those who are not part of a particular congregation to become connected to some expression of of the visible church – hopefully many with ours.

    So, I don’t see that we need to make a choice between these two ways of measuring our congregations. I think we ought to use both. But, I guess, since relatively few are aware of Hirsch’s Ranch, we would be wise to spend our energies to cultivate and cast the importance of the centered-set.

  • If Satan Ruled Your City…

    Is there a big difference between gospel-centered and conservative moralistic churches?   Michael Horton, in his book Christless Christianity, presents this picture:

    “What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city?

    Over half a century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia (the city where Barnhouse pastored), all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday…where Christ was not preached.”

  • Religious Views of 20-Somethings

    In a recent series for Leadership Journal‘s Out of Ur, Brandon O’Brien explores The Religious Views of 20-Somethings.  This is worth exploring.

  • One For the Thumb

    Do you want to know an easy way to remember the 5 largest blocs of Unreached People Groups?  It’s as easy as looking at your thumb. In fact, looking at your thumb is the way to remember. Use the acrostic: T-H-U-M-B

    • Tribals
    • Hindu
    • Unreached Chinese
    • Muslim
    • Buddhist

    A people group is considered unreached when less than 2% of its population are Evangelical Christians.  Perhaps the best resource for learning about all Unreached People Groups, and details about each people, is from Joshua Project.

  • The Cross in the Crosshairs of My Heart

    “I tend to focus my thoughts on my Christianity – how I’m doing, what I’m learning, how my prayer time was today, how I avoided that pesky sin or fell into it again. I think about what I’m supposed to accomplish for Christ, and I interact with others on that same works-oriented ground. But this day isn’t about me at all. It’s about Him: His sinless life, death, resurrection, ascension and reign and the sure promise of His return. It’s the gravity of His life that should attract me toward Him.”

    ~ Elyse Fitzpatrick, Comforts from the Cross

  • The Chief End of Man & God

    I am inclining my ear listening for the collective “OUCH”!   But sometimes the truth hurts. Such is the case with this observation and assertion by Paul Copan, from his book, Is God a Moral Monster?, when applied to the typical American Evangelical:

    The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) begins with this question: ‘What is the chief end of man?’ The famous response is: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’

    For many in the West (including professing Christians), the chief goal of many individuals is to ‘further my interests and to enjoy myself forever.’  Or if God exists, then the Catechism’s answer is subconsciously revised to this: ‘The chief end of God is to make me as comfortable and pain-free as possible’…

    God’s ultimate role isn’t to advance my own interests and freedom… Rather, God seeks the interpersonal intimacy with us in the context of covenant making. .. God is the all-good Creator and Life-giver. He desires that his creatures live life as it should be.

    My thanks to Tom Wood and the folks at gracedagain.com for this quote.

  • Indelible Grace: Roots & Wings

    On the evening of June 30, 2010 I was in the Ryman Auditorium with a large group of great friends, rocking the rafters singing praises to our God.  This video introduces the DVD that recollects that evening and celebrates the influence of the movement launched by Kevin Twit and Indelible Grace – a movement that reintroduced old hymns to a new generation, often putting substantive the old words with fresh new tunes.

    The documentary DVD Roots & Wings is available at the Indelible Grace Music Store.

  • The Determining Factor

    In his magnificent and practical work, Spiritual Depression, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones provides this wonderful description of the dynamics of genuine Christianity:

    “The determining factor in our relationship with God is not our past or present, but Christ’s past and present.”

    ‘How then does it work?’ It works like this. God accepts this righteousness of Christ, this perfect righteousness face to face with the Law, which He honored in every respect. He has kept it and given obedience to it [through his perfect life], and he has borne its penalty [through his death]. The Law is fully satisfied. God’s way of salvation, says Paul, is that. He gives to us the righteousness of Christ. If we have seen our need and go to God and confess it, God will give us his own Son’s righteousness. He imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, who believe in Him, and regards us as righteous, and declares and pronounces us to be righteous in Him. That is the way of salvation, the Christian way of salvation…

    To make it quite practical let me say that there is a very simple way of testing yourself to know whether you believe that… [After] I have explained the way of justification…to them, then I say: ‘Well, then, you are now ready to say that you are a Christian?’ And they hesitate. And I know they have not understood. Then I say: ‘What is the matter, why are you hesitating?’ And they say: ‘I do not feel that I am good enough.’ At once I know that in a sense I have been wasting my breath. They are still thinking in terms of themselves; their idea still is that they have to make themselves good enough to be a Christian, good enough to be accepted with Christ. They have to do it! ‘I am not good enough.’ It sounds very modest, but it is the lie of the devil, it is a denial of the faith… The essence of the Christian faith is to say that He is good enough and that I am in Him!
    .
    As long as you go on thinking about yourself and saying: ‘Ah, yes, I would like to, but I am not good enough; I am a sinner, a great sinner,’ you are denying God and you will never be happy. You will continue to be cast down and disquieted. You will think you are better at times and then again you will find that you are not as good as you thought you were… How can I put this plainly? It does not matter if you have almost entered into the depths of hell, if you are guilty of murder as well as every other vile sin, it does not matter from the standpoint of being justified before God. You are no more hopeless than the most respectable…person in the world. Do you believe that?” 

  • Countering Moralism

    Probably the most difficult obstacle for ministry I face is moralism.  Despite the obvious declining standard in our culture, licentiousness is not the biggest hurdle. Nor is Biblical and theological illiteracy.  Moralism, which substitutes our becoming good in exchange for God’s grace and glory as the essence and goal of Christianity, is a plague that permeates our area, and even our church.  It is an empty promise; an appealing dead end. Yet, because it is so prevalent, and because it is often the message from pulpits of churches deemed successful, not to mention radio airwaves, it passes as being genuine Christianity.

    Richard Lovelace offers this explanation worth considering about the importance of countering this counterfeit Christianity with the power of the genuine and pure gospel:

    “Moralism, whether it take the form of denunciation or pep talks, can ultimately only create awareness of sin and guilt or manufactured virtues built on will power.  A ministry which leads to genuine sanctification and growth, on the other hand, avoids moralism, first by making clear the deep  rootage of sin-problems in the flesh so that the congregation is not battling these in the dark, and then by showing that every victory over the flesh is won by faith in Christ, laying hold of union with Him in death and resurrection and relying on His Spirit for the power over sin.  Presented in this context, even the demand for sanctification becomes part of the Good News… Ministries which attack only the surface of sin and fail to ground spiritual growth in the believer’s union with Christ produce either self-righteousness or despair, and both of these conditions are inimical to spiritual life.”

  • When God Speaks…Things Happen

    In 2 Corinthians 4.6 Paul reveals a correlation between the Gospel and Creation:

    For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

    In other words, as Tim Chester helped me see:

    At creation God spoke a word into darkness, and there was light. He spoke a word into chaos and there was beauty.  And now God speaks a word through the Gospel…

    • He speaks into the darkness of our hearts, and there is light.
    • He speaks into the chaos of our lives, and there is beauty.

  • Choosing the Better Thing

    I really appreciate this thought by Skye Jethani, reflecting on Jesus’ Parable of the Two Sons, passed along to me recently by a good friend:

    “What brought the father joy was not the older son’s service but simply his presence – having his son with him…….what mattered most to the father was neither the younger son’s disobedience nor the older son’s obedience, but having his sons with him.”

    What Jethani expresses is something I am in constantant need of remembering. When I was younger (and knew a lot more than I do today) I needed to to learn that it is not my accomplishments or anything I could deliver to God or for God that the Father values most, but my delight in him.  Now that I am older, and take great joy in this reality, I need to constantly remember that this is what Jesus described in aother place, to Martha, as “choosing the BETTER thing.” (Luke 10.42)