The lost post

I knew I had missed something -- an entire post lost!  So this is a reconstruction.

My mind and heart have been stirred by the recent discussion over Mark Driscoll's new book.  I have been an advocate for fair handling of this material and for learning from Mars Hill.  While I do not think the language used may be wisest, I have too many friends who have given first hand discerning evaluation to this work of God and have come away humbled by what God is doing.

I was trained as a missionary -- I am wired by the Spirit to see the community as Gospel opportunity.  And this is what I see in Mars Hill or Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC -- churches that have broken through the lies of Satan that have hindered the church from its mission for decades.

I want to write about those lies.

The first lie -- you can be biblically faithful or evangelistically successful.  But you cannot be both.  The evil one has convinced conservatives and traditionalists that truth is more important than evangelism and to hold with suspcision anyone who is seeing lots of converts.  The seeker movement only enhanced this prejudice by modifying and selecting truth carefully in order to be effective with the Gospel.  Everyone pats themselves in the back -- the traditionalists see little evangelistic fruit and congratulate themselves on paying the price of faithfulness.  The innovators see conversions and look down their noses at churches that are stuck in a rut and ineffective. 

The second lie -- you can either be separate and un-worldly and out of relationships with lost people or you can be compromised and in relationships with the lost.  Multiple stories are told to illustrate the dangers of friendships with "worldly people" and we are encouraged that separation means physical distance. 

This is rooted in a faulty definition of worldliness and a wrong doctrine of sin. It simplifies all relationships into one kind.  It teaches separation in a false way.  It misses the point that a medical doctor must be in relationship with sick patients to be effective -- but he knows his mission.  That does not keep them from loving their patients and relating to them with grace and dignity -- but a good MD also protects themselves from infection. 

More than an MD, Jesus was both holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners and was also a friend of sinners.  He welcomed into his company the prostitutes and mafia like tax collectors -- but he offered them his company on a redemptive mission.  He never forgot what was the ultimate end.

People say, "He was different.  He was the Son of God" -- and in saying this reveal that they have a heretical Christology -- they believe Jesus was not true man, but somehow greater than true man.  The biblical fact is that he lived as man and died as a man and obeyed God in the same way and with the same resources we have available.  He was also God.

The third lie -- Gospel fruit wears the same clothes.  Many of us have not seen anything except Christians of the same socio-economic and cultural band that is near to us.  We assume that blue jeans and polo shirts are godly.  We assume that tattoos and piercings are worldly. (Or vica versa)  We are the Judaizers of the day -- wanting all Christians to dress in our way or have their spirituality questioned.  There is a flip side to this lie -- that cultural coolness is so important that without it no one will be saved.  That is a lie too.  The power of the Spirit is relevant in any culture.

These lies keep us from the lost - quarantine us from infecting people with the Gospel -- or lead us to believe we must soft-sell the Gospel and hide its hard truths -- or leads is to be critical of fruit that looks different than us.

What I see in a place like Mars Hill or Redeemer or my friend's churches in Sao Paulo is this --  examples that refute the lies.  biblical faithfulness -- stated in the language of the people who hear it -- and powerful life-changing conversions with remarkable Gospel fruit as a result. I see Christians engaged with unbelievers in life -- and speaking the Gospel to them faithfully and biblically.  I see a man like Mark Driscoll not just being faithful to the Gospel -- but to very counter-cultural biblical truth -- the distinct roles of men and women in the home and the church -- the radical sinfulness of man -- the atoning death of Jesus -- the eternality of hell -- the importance of the church and the discipline of members.  And I see and hear from eye-witnesses that powerful effect this is having. 

I take heart from these men that  the Holy Spirit is powerful to work and we may take hope in his work as we remain faithful to the truth and come out of our huddles to engage the lost with love and the truth of the Gospel.

Comments

[Johnny Brooks]

Thanks for that post. I enjoy seeing others really examine what the Gospel is to them.

[marc]

This is helpful Mark. Keep up the thoughtful posts. MD's example in evangelism and building relationships with non belivers stands as a conviction to my own failures at this.

[Sheena]

thanks for your helpful post!

[Ryan Wentzel]

Good thoughts Mark. I'm working through many of these things in my own life right now.