What is the Mission of the Church?

This has been a busy week ... and I have not had time to collect any goodies for you. Instead ... here is just one for your Thursday. This extended quote is from a book I just picked up titled, What Is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert.


In 1933—in the depths of the Great Depression and in the heyday of theological liberalism—J. Gresham Machen tried to answer the pressing question: What is the church’s responsibility in this new age? His answer was spot-on back then, and it is no less true three-quarters of a century later:

"The responsibility of the church in the new age is the same as its responsibility in every age. It is to testify that this world is lost in sin; that the span of human life—no, all the length of human history—is an infinitesimal island in the awful depths of eternity; that there is a mysterious, holy, living God, Creator of all, Upholder of all, infinitely beyond all; that he has revealed himself to us in his Word and offered us communion with himself through Jesus Christ the Lord; that there is no other salvation, for individuals or for nations, save this, but that this salvation is full and free, and that whoever possesses it has for himself and for all others to whom he may be the instrument of bringing it a treasure compared with which all the kingdoms of the earth—no, all the wonders of the starry heavens—are as the dust of the street. An unpopular message it is—an impractical message, we are told. But it is the message of the Christian church. Neglect it, and you will have destruction; heed it, and you will have life." 

DeYoung and Gilbert follow-up Machen's quote with these words: "It is not the church’s responsibility to right every wrong or to meet every need, though we have biblical motivation to do some of both. It is our responsibility, however—our unique mission and plain priority—that this unpopular, impractical gospel message gets told, that neighbors and nations may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, they may have life in his name." (Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert (2011-09-06). What Is the Mission of the Church? (p. 250). Crossway. Kindle Edition)

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Birds of a Feather - Flock Together!

This morning as I was preparing my morning coffee, I heard what sounded like a whole lot of birds chirping away. So I stuck my head out my front door and sure enough ... the sky above was black with black birds ... chirping and flying to who knows where. And they just kept coming and coming and coming. There must have been a couple thousand of these birds. And from the best I could tell ... they were all starlings.

As I thought of this ... I thought of the old expression, "Birds of a feather, flock together." I did some research and found that the origin of this phrase dates back to the 1500's.  The saying simply means that those of similar taste tend to congregate together. This is not only true of birds, it's true of us humans, too. We tend to hang out with those that have the same likes (or dislikes) as we do. Case in point ... I don't hang out with people who like to do scrap booking - because that is something that is not on my radar screen of "likes."  But invite me to watch a football game with the guys and I am there (unless it's the New England Patriots!).

SOOO ... who are the people that you tend to associate with? This is a more important question than you might think. In a number of places, Scripture gives us guidance on the type of people we should be hanging with (Proverbs 13:20; 22:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:33). You want to be wise? - spend time with wise people. You want to be gracious? - spend time with gracious people. You want to become more like Christ? - then look for people who exemplify him and seek to spend some time with them. Remember ... "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Our Foggy Future

This morning when I walked out my door to retrieve the morning newspaper, I was greeted by a blanket of fog – a blanket that was quite heavy early on (at least surrounding my house). So I was very glad to see that much of the fog had dissipated by the time I had to hop in my car and head off for my day. I don’t know how you feel about driving in foggy conditions … but I don’t like it one bit! I like to see clearly what lies ahead of me when I am driving – which is something that isn’t going to be the case on a real foggy morning!

Living out our lives is a lot like driving in the fog. We can only see so far ahead. As much as we might like to be able to see around the next corner, it is fruitless to even try. Only God knows what lies before us as we walk (or run!) through our daily routines. But isn’t that a comfort? Knowing that the God who made me and saved me has my days in HIS hands brings me a lot of peace. And peace is in short supply in our anxiety saturated world. I hope you can find peace today knowing that you and your future are in the Almighty’s hands.

 Thanks for stopping by,
pj

Life Doesn't Work So Well Alone!

At Grace Church, we believe that God calls us to do life together ... because life works best in community.  That's why we are launching our new and improved small group ministry. We call our groups Life groups. We take seriously the exhortation in Hebrews 10:24-25 which demonstrates just how important it is do journey through life TOGETHER with other followers of Christ.

Here is a brief video that demonstrates the foolishness of trying to do life alone!



Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Thursday A La Carte

Here are my Thursday offerings:

1. Ligonier Ministries features an excellent interview with Joni Erickson Tada on The Purpose in the Pain. A great read!

2. Ray Ortland on the unBeatitudes.  Ortland is "spot on!" as they say across the Atlantic.

3. Need some help in teaching children who are reluctant to change. Here is a great video (5:14) from CCEF (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).

4. Here is a heart warming video of a little baby who hears his mother's voice for the very first time!  Wow!


Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

7 Billion and Counting!

According to the United Nations, sometime toward the end of this month, the world will welcome it's 7th billion human being onto the planet. Seven billion! That's more than a boatload of people!  To help you get a handle on this vast number ... think of this: If you were to count the world's population (counting at the rate of one person per second), it would take you over 220 years to do so!  Wow! That's a lot of people!

The Bible makes it clear that each one of these approximately 7 billion people who live on earth is an image bearer of God's. Now sin has twisted, distorted and broken this image - but it is still there. The Bible also makes it clear that God commands every single one of these fallen image bearers to repent (Acts 17:30). The reason given for this command is that God has fixed a day on which he will judge all of humanity (Acts 17:31-32). Repentance and judgment are two concepts one does not hear much about today ... even within the church. But they are biblical words that describe biblical realities. And we must not lose sight of this!

So ... as you think about your 7 billion fellow human beings ... pray for them! Ask God to work in them so that they will heed his command to repent and thereby be ready to face the Judge on that day God has fixed.

Tonight at Grace Church we launch our Wednesday Night Live programming. As part of our evening activities, we will be sponsoring what we are calling an "All Souls Prayer Gathering." This gathering will meet the first Wednesday of each month and will be a focused time of praying for the lost souls around us, both near and far. If you are in the area, I invite you to join us. And if you are not, I encourage you to spend some time praying for those around you who do not know Christ.

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Courageous: The Movie

Yesterday, since it was rainy and quite cool, my wife and I decided to head for a matinee at our local movie theater. We had wanted to see the new movie, Courageous  (produced by the people who came out with Fireproof). The movie proved to be a good fit for a rainy day.  It was an entertaining film with a great message. This morning, I received an email from the producers of the film ... in part it read: 

"What an amazing Opening Weekend for COURAGEOUS! Thank you for the role you played in helping this film reach a wide audience—it was the No. 1 new release of the weekend. What did people think of COURAGEOUS? It scored it an A+ on CinemaScore—one of just four films to do so this year.

While opening in fewer than half of the theaters as the three other new releases—and three holdover films—COURAGEOUS finished No. 4 in the box office this weekend. And in the per-screen average, COURAGEOUS was by far the No. 1 movie of all movies playing in 1,000 or more theaters.Talk about exceedingly, abundantly more than we can hope or imagine!"

Not everybody is thrilled with the film. On RottenTomatoes.com, even though moviegoers gave the film a 93 rating (out of 100, only one film was rated higher), movie critics gave it a lowly 31. Here is what the critics were saying, "While the filmmaking is fairly competent, Courageous is overall worthless to anybody who doesn't subscribe to its dogmatic agenda."

Hmm. Quite a harsh statement from the critics. Why such a statement? Could it be because the film mentions the name "Jesus" several times ... and NOT as an expression of profanity? Could it be because the gospel is given in no uncertain terms? 

I would encourage you to go and see the movie. Especially you dads out there!  You won't be disappointed!  

Thanks for stopping by . . . 

pj