Jesus the Great Shepherd

The following is to be preached at an outreach to the poor and homeless in West Philadelphia on October 15, 2010.

In Mark chapter 6, we find Jesus sending out the apostles. He sends them out to preach to the multitudes about repentance from sin.  This they do, and in v. 30 we find them returning to Jesus and reporting to him everything that they had said and done.

6:31 – And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate [ἔρημος: desert, wilderness] place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

Jesus and the disciples get into a boat and leave for the wilderness place by themselves.

6:33-34 – Now many saw [Jesus and the disciples] going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When [Jesus] went ashore he saw a great crowd….

At this point, what would we expect of a human leader? In normal circumstances, what would we expect? What would we expect of one who was so busy with something that he didn’t even have time to stop for a meal break? Read more »

Our Philosophy of Ministry

Along with others on our leadership team, I currently find myself in a ministry context of planting a new church in an urban area that is racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse. Add to this mixture a highly transient student and young, urban professional population and further challenges to long-term ministry become immediately evident. In this short piece I will set forth my philosophy of ministry in general (regardless of any temporal or geographical circumstances) and my philosophy of ministry in the immediate context of University City, Philadelphia.

The ultimate goal of my life is to serve and minister in a way that is radically Christ-centered, radically gospel-centered, and radically other-centered by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Matt. 22:34-40; 28:18-20). It is the God-man Jesus Christ whose life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension gives meaning to the gospel and displays for me the precious value of each and every human life (John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; 1 John 4:9-10). It is through the gospel that I am reconciled to this Jesus and empowered to love and serve others (Rom. 1:16; 5:5; 1 John 4:19). It is through indiscriminately loving others that I can live out this gospel and serve Christ by serving others (Matt. 25:31-46; 1 John 3:14-19).

Read more »

Outreach in Drexel Park – John Davis (Part One)

Lead pastor John Davis speaking at a pre-launch outreach and fellowship with the core group of Grace Church of Philly at Drexel Park in University City, Philadelphia on 09-19-2009.

We Have Squandered the Bounty of the Lord

["Christ and the Rich Young Ruler" by Heinrich Hofman (1824-1911), slightly altered]

Within the past few years, and in the past few months especially, the Lord has been gracious to show me how I’ve labored diligently to squander the bounty that He has undeservedly blessed me with. I have consistently wasted and misspent and misused and blown the wealth that I have been given on trivial, frivolous idols of materialism and worldliness.

I have spent my life gathering heaps and tons of worthless scrap to myself while billions of spiritually needy people about me are perishing for want of the gospel of God’s grace in Christ. I have been guilty of living a life of relative ease and luxury while ignoring those who, due to various circumstances, find themselves wallowing about in the mire of poverty, desperation, and the blackness of spiritual darkness.

The Lord has shown me, through His Word and the ministry of His indwelling Holy Spirit, that I have been a fool for this world and its seductive allures. During this time of instruction, He has revealed my sin to me in a merciful and gracious manner at a time when all of my self-centered actions and thoughts and desires deserved nothing but His harsh and righteous judgment. What a loving and gentle and caring Father it is that we serve who ministers to us even in our rebellion against Him. Such infinite and penetrating love is beyond our capacity to understand.

During the course of my life, I have learned the most about myself and about my God during times of great suffering and trial. This circumstance is no different. As His purposes in my life have unfolded over the past two-plus years, I have experienced great anguish and loss. The Lord has ordered the circumstances of my life in such a way as to show me the riches and utter sufficiency of the fullness of His grace while at the same time working to excise the sinister materialism that had conquered me on various levels. As a result, I now have more of Christ and less of this world in my life and heart and mind and spirit. I have less things, but more of His Spirit. I am poorer in the eyes of the world, but far richer in Christ.

Long ago, a spirit of covetousness invaded and effectively subdued the Christian Church in America. (Judging by the incident with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11, it appears as if this sin has always menaced the Church of God to greater or lesser degrees at various times.) The god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) and his demonic hordes revel in and rejoice over the lethargic attitude and relative inaction of the people of God in this the wealthiest nation in the history of this world. For far too long, I have bought into a thoroughly Americanized and crippled Christian faith that is drenched in and weighed down by consumerism. I confess that, for far too long, I have been part of the problem. By God’s grace I pray to be a part of the solution.

I was recently reading something that was very convicting and wanted to share it with my readers. The following excerpts are from John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry (Nashville, TN: 2002):

We will never persuade our people that the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21) applies to them unless we apply it to ourselves. God called the man a fool because, when his fields produced a surplus, he built bigger barns and took his ease.

What should he have done with the God-given surplus? Verse 33 answers: “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy.” Instead of increasing his own ease and security, he should have used his extra possessions to alleviate suffering.

“Fool” is what God calls a person who uses his excess money to increase his own comforts. And Luke adds, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (v. 21)….

The person who thinks the money he makes is meant mainly to increase his own comforts on earth is a fool, Jesus says. Wise people know that all their money belongs to God and should be used to show that God, and not money, is their treasure, their comfort, their joy, and their security….

God does not prosper a man’s business so that man can move from a Buick to a BMW. God prospers a man’s business so that hundreds of unreached peoples can be reached with the gospel. He prospers a business so that 20 percent of the world’s population can move a step back from the precipice of starvation.

Brothers, many of our people have barely begun to grasp this. Too many are more shaped by the consumer culture than by the economics of Christ. They still operate on the simple rule: If you earned it, you deserve it. It’s yours; use it for your own material comfort.

They have been taken in by the half-truth that says we glorify God with money by enjoying thankfully all luxuries He enables us to buy. The true half is this: we should give thanks for every good thing God gives us. That does glorify Him. The false half is the subtle implication that God can be glorified in this way by every decent purchase we make.

If this were true, Jesus would not say, “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy” (Luke 12:33). He would not say, “Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink” (Luke 12:29). John the Baptist would not have said, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none” (Luke 3:11). The Son of Man would not have walked around with no place to lay His head (Luke 9:58). And Zacchaeus would not have given half of his goods to the poor (Luke 19:8).

God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized and uneducated and unhoused and unfed millions.

The evidence that many of our people are not rich toward God is how little they give and how much they own. Over the years God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture, they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun.

Very few of our people have said to themselves: we will live at a level of joyful, wartime simplicity and use the rest of what we earn to alleviate misery. But surely this is what Jesus wants. I do not see how we can read the New Testament, then look at two billion unevangelized people, and still build another barn for ourselves. We can only justify the exorbitance of our lifestyle by ignoring the lostness of the unreached and the misery of the poor….

Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” So there are three levels of how to live with things: (1) you can steal to get, (2) or you can work to get, (3) or you can work to get in order to give.

Many of us live on level two. Almost all of the forces of our culture urge us to live on level two. But the Bible is unrelenting in pushing us to level three….

You will have to make clear to the business people in your congregation that you are not against multimillion-dollar industries. Nor are you necessarily against their six-digit salaries. The problem arises when they endorse the professional status quo that says a six-digit salary should have a six-digit lifestyle. It shouldn’t. Perhaps it should have a $40,000 lifestyle and support two families on a new mission field.

The problem is not with earning a lot. The problem is the constant accumulation of luxuries that are soon felt to be needs (pp. 167-72, emphasis in bold added).

Luke 12:13 (ESV) Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him,‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 18:18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Holy Fear and Awe

Last Saturday night I preached a message on missions at a father and son banquet at a nearby church. When I finished and sat down, a familiar dread settled in upon my heart and soul. It is extremely difficult to describe this dread, but I feel it important to attempt to do just this and record this sense of fearful awe for further meditation and study. 

This dread is not something that is unhealthy or wrong. It is a dread grounded in the eternal majesty of God. And it is a dread that recognizes exactly what I am (and am not) in the face of such fiery Perfection and raw Power. It is a recognition of powerlessness in the face of Omnipotence. It is a Spirit-prompted acknowledgement of finiteness in the presence of an awful Infiniteness. 

The closest thing I have ever read that accurately describes this feeling is what C. S. Lewis (1940) calls “the experience of the Numinous” in The Problem of Pain:

Those who have not met this term may be introduced to it by the following device. Suppose you were told there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told, ‘There is a ghost in the next room,’ and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is ‘uncanny’ rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny, one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply, ‘There is a mighty spirit in the room,’ and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking – a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant and of prostration before it – an emotion which might be expressed in Shakespeare’s words, ‘Under it my genius is rebuked.’ This feeling may be described as awe, and the object which excites it as the Numinous” (pp. 5-6). 

Perhaps it is that I feel closest to the triune God when I have just preached from His Word. Perhaps it is this awareness of my proximity to Him Who is Omnipresent that prompts my fearful awe and a desire to lay flat on my face upon the ground in His presence. 

After I preach a message from God’s Word before others, upon departing the pulpit and reclaiming my seat with the congregation, I am always prompted by the Spirit to hang my head in my hands and contemplate what I have just done. I have just handled the sword of the Spirit in the company of others (Eph. 6:17). This is not something to be done carelessly or frivolously. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12, ESV). It is no dead and dusty book that I have handled. It is a weighty, heady, active, fiery, living sledgehammer of a tome (Jer. 23:29) that is bristling and bursting with the words of ultimate truth and eternal life. 

Whenever I am asked to preach or teach God’s Word, I undertake the task with great seriousness and solemnity. I do this with full apprehension of the teaching of the Holy Spirit through our Lord’s brother James: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1). 

This judgment speaks not of condemnation or punishment for sin, for we know that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). However, we do know that Christians will be judged in some fashion when we stand before the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10) so that “each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). This judgment occurs when we, as Christians, depart our earthly bodies (or “tents” in 2 Cor. 5:1) in death and go to be “home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). It is in the presence of the Almighty Creator and Jesus Christ that we will receive our due. “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience” (2 Cor. 5:11). 

Perhaps it is that this dread originates in my conscience. Only I and the Lord know the horrific sins that I have committed in this lifetime. It is only He who knows me completely and fully. It is only He who knows the secrets of my wicked heart. We both know how utterly inept and disqualified I am from preaching His Word before others.

John Piper (2002) once said:

I was amazed once to hear a seminary graduate say how adequate he felt for the ministry after his years of schooling. This was supposed to be a compliment to the school. The reason this amazed me is that the greatest theologian and missionary and pastor who ever lived cried out, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16). Not because he was a bungler, but because the awful calling of emitting the fragrance of eternal life for some and eternal death for others was a weight he could scarcely bear. A pastor who feels competent in himself to produce eternal fruit – which is the only kind that matters – knows neither God nor himself. A pastor who does not know the rhythm of desperation and deliverance must have his sights only on what man can achieve. But brothers, the proper goals of the life of a pastor are unquestionably beyond our reach. The changes we long for in the hearts of our people can happen only by a sovereign work of grace (p. 54).  

A desperate acknowledgement of my utter dependence upon a fearful and holy God. Perhaps this comes close to describing how I feel after preaching the Word. Perhaps I should feel this way more often, even when I am not preaching. 

Hebrews 12:28 (NLT) Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 

References:

C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001, reprint from 1940). 

John Piper, Brothers, We are not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 2002).

On Holistic Ministry

I’ve written previously on the imbalance in the ministry philosophy of churches on the right and on the left. Conservative evangelical and fundamental churches on the right have the saving gospel message, but are largely ineffective in reaching our culture because they lack in genuine, Christ-like, unconditional love.

Liberal mainline churches on the left do not preach the gospel message and the need for conversion, but are much more active in reaching out in love to the culture around them. However, because their social ministries are not properly rooted in and performed alongside the gospel of grace, they lack the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever change is wrought through such ministries is fleeting and ephemeral. Taking an eternal view, such ministries merely make the earth a better place for souls to go to hell from.

The great need of our day is for the body of Christ to rid itself of the inchoate faith of the right and the biblically-uninformed, anthropocentric faith of the left and embrace a full-bodied, biblically-faithful, socially conscious, holistic Christian faith that can radically impact our post-Church society for Jesus Christ.

Following are some quotes from urban church planter, philosopher, and theologian Tim Keller (2002) on holistic ministry:

Have a counter-intuitive holistic ministry. Most people have a very powerful desire (need?) to place a church somewhere on an ideological spectrum from “Liberal/Left wing” to “Conservative/Right wing.” There is nothing more crucial than to use the gospel in the life of our church to defy such stereotypes and to (thus) become impossible to categorize. On the one hand, the gospel of Christ and justification-by-faith brings deep, powerful psychological changes. Though I am sinful, I am accepted through Christ. This discovery converts people, so they sing, “My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.” On the other hand, the gospel of the cross and the kingdom brings deep powerful social changes. It defies the values of the world – power, status, recognition and wealth. The gospel is triumph through weakness, wealth through poverty, power through service. This changes our attitude toward the poor and toward our own status, wealth and careers.

Together, these two sides of the gospel’s influence create a unique kind of church. So many fundamentalist churches tend to be legalistic in their approach, even if they technically believe in justification by faith! Therefore, though they stress evangelism, they are not all that attractive or effective. Legalism does not produce reciprocal love for those without faith. On the other hand, so many liberal churches, though they stress social justice, are not all that effective at it. Their people’s lives are not electrified by conversion. They do not have deep experiences that humble them and change the way they look at the poor. Therefore, a gospel-centered church should have a social justice emphasis and effectiveness that greatly exceeds the liberal churches. Meanwhile, it should have an evangelistic fervor that greatly exceeds the ordinary fundamentalist churches. This gospel-driven, counter-intuitive combination of zeal can only come through teaching, prayer and repentance.

Jesus considered a concern for the poor to be a mark of his presence (Matt. 11:5). Increasingly, in a globalized world, we will win neither the elites nor the masses unless we embody the gospel in strong ministry to people with economic and material needs as well as spiritual. “The renewal of Christ’s salvation ultimately includes a renewed universe…there is no part of our existence that is untouched by His blessing. Christ’s miracles were miracles of the Kingdom, performed as signs of what the Kingdom means…His blessing was pronounced upon the poor, the afflicted, the burdened and heavy-laden who came to Him and believed in Him. The miraculous signs that attested Jesus’ deity and authenticated the witness of those who transmitted the gospel to the church is not continued, for their purpose was fulfilled. But the pattern of the kingdom that was revealed through those signs must continue in the church…Kingdom evangelism is therefore holistic as it transmits by word and deed the promise of Christ for the body and soul as well as the demand of Christ for body and soul” (Edmund P. Clowney, in The Pastor Evangelist)….

Jesus says that a sign of the gospel is faith. Matthew 5:4-7 says, If you “only greet your brother, what do ye more than others?” Since the Jewish greeting was Shalom! and an embrace, Jesus is saying much. We must show our uniqueness by following our Lord who always embraced the moral and spiritual outsider. Matt. 21:31 – “The prostitute and the tax collectors are entering the Kingdom of God before you.” If you understand the gospel of grace, you treat the other: A) With respect. Grace means the non-believer may be a better person. B) With courage. Grace means the non-believer’s possible rejection of us is not so fearsome. C) With hope. Grace means you are a miracle and no one is beyond hope. No other worldview can produce this combination of humility and confidence (pp. 105-106).  

Reference

Keller, Timothy J. and J. Allen Thompson, Church Planter Manual, New York: Redeemer Church Planting Center, 2002.

Clearing Away the Congestion of Groupthink

One of the myriad ways in which a local church can stifle the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the midst of their congregation and in their community is to engage in groupthink. As Satterlee points out, the more that symptoms of groupthink are manifested within an organization, the worse the quality of the decisions will be that are made (2009, p. 154).

How does groupthink occur in churches? Following Satterlee (p. 154-155), here are eight ways that groupthink can manifest in your local assembly:

1. The church has an illusion of invulnerability based upon religious traditions and norms. The motto is, “This is how we have ‘always’ done it. We will continue to do it this way. We will not change.”

2. There is an unquestioned belief in the group’s inherent righteousness. Group members doggedly believe in the “rightness” of their particular norm of ministry philosophy and ignore any other philosophies, even ones that are clearly supported by Scripture. 

3. There is a collective effort to restrain alternative norms and philosophies of ministry. No one dares introduce information that may go against the group’s rationalizing efforts because they may be ostracized as a result. 

4. The church collectively stereotypes the “opposition.” Church members, following the leadership, may look down upon those outside of the preferred group because they are providing information contrary to the beliefs held by the group. 

5. Self-censorship is alive and well within the group. Church members may offer mere opinions rather than make strong recommendations for change. 

6. There is a shared illusion of unanimity. Silence within the congregation on a given topic is interpreted to mean agreement. 

7. The application of direct pressure on any member who expresses strong disagreement. It is believed that dissent would never come from a loyal group member. 

8. Self-appointed mind-guards are hard at work. These people are the ones who work to prevent anyone within the group from hearing information that may disrupt the group’s complacency and statisticity. 

Church leaders and members must be vigilant to ensure that symptoms of groupthink are quickly identified and addressed before they solidify and become harmful. If this occurs, not only will the spiritual growth of the local congregation suffer, but the mission of God that He has given to the church to go and make disciples will suffer as well. 

Does your local church suffer from groupthink? If so, gently work to clear away some of the spiritual congestion that is hampering the fullness of the Holy Spirit from manifesting in your midst. 

See also “Groupthink and Functional Conflict.” 

Reference:

Satterlee, A. (2009). Organizational Management and Leadership: A Christian Perspective. Roanoake, VA: Synergistics.