GospelDrivenLife

meditation on shopping carts

My wife and I are empty nesters and enjoy every minute we can find to be together.  That includes a weekly trip to the grocery store. The other day, as we drove into the lot, we saw them -- shopping carts left here and there, nudged up against trees and against parking barriers.  Shopping carts here and there. Simultaneously, we both exclaimed, "Look at that!" and then . . .

Is biblical fellowship optional? 5

In this post I want to explore some of the ways I am learning to practice fellowship.  I am by no means a stellar example.  But I am learning.

Is biblical fellowship optional? 4

I have carried on for a while about the value of biblical fellowship.  What strikes me right now is that if we cut out all the verses in the Bible about how fellowship affected people for good -- how much of the NT would we have to remove?  It is remarkable how much relationship is in the apostolic witness.  I do not mean just exhoration, I mean example.

Is biblical fellowship optional? 3

All I can say is "ouch" -- that's it.  The reality of living in what the Gospel calls us to -- in relationship with other believers in a local church with growing awareness of grace and sin, with growing exposure of my own pride and selfishness -- all that spells "ouch" to me.  Except that it is what God has designed for my good and his glory.

Is biblical fellowship optional? 2

I find comments on posts very instructive.  I lead a church where the value of fellowship has been instilled due to the wise leadership of our founding pastor, Craig Cabaniss. He created a culture in which all (pastors and members) are subject to accountability -- so come of the questions and comments that come are not deep challenges to us.  That being said, the pursuit of walking in the light with each other is always a war.  But is it what the Bible teaches?

Is biblical fellowship optional?

As a young boy my parents made sure I was taken to church, week after week.  Their thinking was that church would be the place I received a religious education. They both served in the church in various capacities and were good friends with the pastor.  I seem to remember that their pattern of church life was very common among their friends as well -- attendance at worship, kids in Sunday School, and some service. And, very little relationship with fellow Christians at the level of fellowship.  We got older and teased my father that he could make the fastest exit from worship on Sunday -- getting to the exit door to shake hands with the minister in less than 2 seconds, leapfrogging over all those rows ahead of him to the exit, bolting for the door when the last Amen was uttered.  The motto was, "Just because I go to church with them, doesn't mean they have to be my friends."

I am grateful for my parents influence on my life, and I am blessed that my last face to face conversation with my dad before he died involved his clear confession of faith in the crucified Savior. And I am not being critical of them per se; their thinking is representative of tens of millions of people . . . but it represents the idea that life in the local church is attendance and serviced but NOT relational depth with fellow believers. 

The reasons were very clear -- we chose our friends and we found some of those folks at First Church of Wherever to be difficult or petty or stupid.  In other words, we find that close relationships with fellow sinners are a challenge and we think it is our right to pick the circle of friends that surround us.  We would pick the ones we find most pleasant and with whom we are in most agreement.

Is that an option?  Is it an option to attend a Bible teaching church and engage is superficial relationship with almost all?  Is it an option to pick and choose the people around me so that I do not have to deal with the irritable habits of some others?  Of course it is an option, but it is not what Scripture calls us to.  It is the sad choice to avoid a means of grace in life that is one of the most effective -- the means of rubbing shoulders with fellow redeemed sinners who are now saints -- through which my sins are exposed and I am invited to grow in godliness.  It is the rejection of powerful encouragement as well. 

In the next few posts I wish to explore this . . .

Keeping the Gospel as Gospel

I seem to remember that it was in my early years as a Christian that I came across Walter Chantry's little book, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic?  Chantry took the story of the rich ruler as his text and sought to demonstrate the necessity of a conviction of sin in the process of conversion.  The book was a lightening bolt to my soul.  My interests in evangelism had been there for the few years I was a Christian and I had been immersed in the more pragmatic view of the process -- get people to admit need and pray a prayer (that would be its crassest form).  I was also serving in a church at the time where a national media campaign for evangelism had been embraced and was picking up momentum.  Chantry's work changed everything for me.  I saw that I must define the Gospel on God's terms and not man's -- and that failure to do so meant the equivalent of malpractice in spiritual obstetrics.

Let me preface this by acknowledging that all conversions are a work of the Holy Spirit -- not simply an intellectual exercise.  Our part is to make the news clear -- his part is to convict and bring new birth through faith in the Savior.

Living in the Gospel in an age of self-help

In the last year I have become increasingly convinced that the Gospel makes no sense to the natural man.  Not only is it counter-intuitive to the unbeliever but it requires constant reminders to the Christian.  I am so deeply self-help oriented that I quickly move on from the Gospel and God's work to save me -- to myself and my work to improve my life.

Living by faith not fear

I have been responsible for the training of 3 children.  I have also led three churches and served on a team in others.  Any time one bears responsibility and seeks to apply the Gospel and the Scriptures to life, one faces decisions and actions.  To all appearances two people can be doing almost identical things as parents or making identical decisions as leaders -- but their lives can be totally different in heart.  The difference is that one person can obey out of fear.  The other can obey out of faith.  And that is a huge difference.  The difference ties to the interceeding savior.

Our keeping Savior

I have been thinking on Jesus present ministry at God's right hand.  Sad to say, I have almost completely neglected this theme in all my years as a Christian.  Reading Hebrews has helped me see that the Gospel is about the PERSON and WORK of Christ -- and the fruit of his death is his exaltation as the God-man, Savior, Messiah, and Lord.  My Savior stands at God's right hand for me.  But what does that mean?