Christian Spirituality is Redemptive
The truth of the above title should be obvious, right? Christian spirituality has everything to do with lost sinners. Any notion of spirituality that that is defined around isolating oneself from the world is in fact not biblical spirituality. It's just not. The gospel gets us outside ourselves. The gospel causes us to look at people differently. We are saved form ourselves to God, for other people. The Pharisees missed this. We are seriously deceived if we do not think that we are equally susceptible to this. If your tendency is to not associate with a lost and broken world, you need to re-examine your commitment to Jesus Christ.

Our Tendency Is To Remain Isolated
The Pharisees could not understand how a spiritual person could have anything to do with nonspiritual 'sinners', as they said when Jesus visited them, 'If He was a prophet He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner' (Luke 7:39). Such comments reveal an understanding of spirituality, which desperately needed to be exclusive in order to maintain its purity. Jesus saw spirituality as submission to the purpose of God in the redemption of people. Our spirituality is not in withdrawal but in participation. And participation for redemptive ends.

How To Change
With that in mind, let me give you some practical advice for how to develop a spirituality that is not in withdrawal but in participation. If we are going to order our relationships around Jesus Christ we cannot have stereotypical, shallow and superficial relationships with people. The gospel compels us to get outside ourselves. Here are some ways to start:

1. Be Interested - Ask people questions. Ask and ask away. People like to talk about themselves because they are so self-absorbed. Maybe in a moment of humility they will ask you something back. Always answer more than they ask. Make an identification with Christ on the front end, and back this up with relational stuff.

2. Be Inclusive - Never do anything alone. Do not eat alone, do not work alone, do not play alone, do not drive alone. Invite people to do things with you. Make this a habit. Have someone join your family. Build a context to share Christ.

3. Be Intentional - You have to be intentional with your life. Steering conversations into deeper issues requires intentionality. This does not happen naturally. Learn to think hyper-intentionally, otherwise it will not happen. Have a plan to engage in meaningful conversations with everyone around you.

Labels: Evangelism, Gospel, Missional, Missions, Spirituality

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

When it comes to spending time alone with God, there are two questions people typically never ask. Answering those questions will help you cultivate a more serious relationship with God.

When? The question of when, has to do with establishing a time each day when you will get into the Word, think, pray and engage with God. Many people never think through this question. The result is that their time with God is quite haphazard and sporadic. Basically, it has become more like, “I will spend time with God, when I can”. Humbly, I do not think you can sustain a vibrant relationship with God like this. You do not do this in your marriage, and if you did, your marriage would not be much more than a peaceful coexistence, if that. Thus, you need to establish a time and place to communicate with God, alone. I am not suggesting that spontaneity is bad. I like it. Sometimes it is actually helpful. However, if your walk with God has become all spontaneous and unplanned you will more than likely have an anemic relationship with God at best. So, plan you time with God.

Example: Working as a pastor, it is essential that I have time to restore and replenish. After the end of a long week and a loaded Sunday, I desperately need to replenish. I need to “fill the tank”, so to speak. For me, that means that I give my Monday mornings to getting alone and away with God for extended hours for the sole purpose of being refreshed and recharged.

How? The second question we must ask ourselves is how. The question of how, has to do with establishing a plan for what you will do when you spend time with God. What do you need to do in order to establish an effective time alone with God? It is not enough to simply have a time, you need to know what you are going to do with that time when it comes. Being really organized by setting aside a regular time each day, only to be sporadic with the use of that time has a canceling effect. In that case, the time you set aside will be wasted because you do not have a plan for how to use that time well. I hesitate to suggest what that should mean for you. I only am stating the fact that you should have a plan. Whatever that plan is, presumably, it should be something realistic and attainable with a proven track record of yielding fruit. If you have a time, place and plan, are being faithful to those things and still not seeing fruit, you need to re-examine your time, place and plan.

Example: Be aware of distractions. It is important, to be aware of where your affections are. On the negative side, what things do you love and have a hard time going without? If it is sleep you love, you need to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get up early to spend time with God. If it is TV you love, you need to get away from that distraction before you try to spend time with God. If it is social networking and tooling around on the internet occupying your affections, you need to get away from that. Practically, this means don’t go to Panera and try to have a quiet time with your laptop on the table.

Some distractions are long-term and have become patters that work to create an overall sense of distraction. Sports are a key example of this dynamic, particularly for men. If you are consistently emotionally affected by whether or not a 20-year-old boy catches a ball, this should be an immediate indication that this has become way too important for you. Think about what that is saying about your affections. Among other things, it communicates that you are more affected by that game, than by the God who made you. Work to crucify inordinate affections.

On the positive side, what are things that create affection for the Lord? Maybe it is singing, listening to a good worship track, hiking on the trail admiring God’s creation, fellowship with a friend in prayer, and hopefully the gathering of your local church on Sunday morning. Whatever the case may be, pursue these things. Learn to create a climate and context that nurtures your affection for God.

In summary, you must have a time, place and plan. You must ask yourself these two questions: When will I spend time with God? How will I spend time with God? If you are faithful to ask these questions and work hard to follow through on them, you will do well.

Labels: Bible Reading, Devotions, Prayer in the Holy Spirit, Quiet Time, Spiritual Disciplines, Time Alone with God

Posted by Jonathan at Thursday, October 15, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Are you a young married couple? Reading lots of books on marriage? Perhaps you're engaged to be married and just beginning the process. Well, whatever the case may be, there are so many resources available. Unfortunately, not all of them are equally beneficial. To be fair, there is some really bad stuff out there! On the other hand, there's some great resources available. So how can you helpfully discern what's good and what's bad? Certainly, it's always helpful to have a trusted guide. 9Marks has served us well over the years by always being a straight guide. Some time ago, I posted a chart from 9Marks reviewing the best and the worst books on marriage, according to 9Marks that is. If you have not seen that post, I encourage you to reference that material here.

With that said, however, I do want to make you aware of a new resource that is out. It is particularly geared toward young married couples. Focus on the Family has built an online community seeking to serve young couples in their journey toward strong marriages. The face of this ministry is their blog is entitled, "Young Married Life". According to Justin Taylor,

"The site is intended to function as a virtual small group for married couples, featuring a group blog, a forum and regular featured articles about the early years of marriage, career, finances, culture, and calling. A key topic on the site is preparing for parenting. Gen X and Gen Y couples are reporting a sharper drop in marital satisfaction when they become parents. Young Married Life will offer candid thoughts on the joys and challenges of starting a family with the hope of providing couples a smoother transition."

“We want to offer a supportive community to couples who might feel a little lost in their transition into marriage,” said Steve Watters, director of Marriage and Parenting Preparation for Focus on the Family. “We especially want to help them realize that they aren’t the only people who have fights about in-laws or how to load the dishwasher the right way.”

You can visit the site and enjoy its resources by clicking the banner below.

Labels: Books, Community, Focus on the Family, Marriage, Marriage Books

Posted by Jonathan at Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Matt McCauley from the Village Church has some helpful advice for parents who are struggling with how to shepherd their kids through adolescence. Among other things, Matt reflects on what your kids may be thinking as they enter the range of 11-15 years of age. Speaking of spending more time in front of the mirror, Matt says,

"As your son or daughter enters into this transition from child to sexually mature adult, expect them to become more consumed with their outward appearance. When they begin to notice the changes a natural curiosity about them will arise. They’ll be looking for answers and explanations to what is going on and why it’s happening.

Sadly, many teens will monitor these changes and self-evaluate them based on the standards of beauty and acceptance portrayed in mainstream media. And this will commonly lead to stress and low self-esteem as no one can measure up to the manufactured, near perfect appearance of those praised in the spotlight. Modesty issues, unhealthy obsessions with exercise, use of performance and growth enhancing drugs, and eating disorders are some of the problems brought on by this stress."

In the rest of the article he deals with the following issues:

1. How can you help? Don't just be a voice be the loudest voice.

2. What's at stake?

He finished with two book recommendations.

(HT: Matt McCauley)

Labels: Matt McCauley, Parenting, Teens, The Village Church

Posted by Jonathan at Thursday, October 01, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Tim Challies has posted a review of Leland Ryken's new book, Understanding English Bible Translation. The book is not intended to be an academic read but has been written for a more popular audience. With that said, it still promises to be an extremely valuable read as according to Challies, it avoids "the more difficult nuances and focuses primarily on the big-picture." If you have ever wondered why we have so many English translations of the Bible, Ryken's book will be helpful to you in providing an answer to your question.

Challies says, "In the book’s first part, he provides an overview of the issues related to translation and provides answers to common questions associated with translating the Bible. In part two he briefly tells the story of English Bible translation, starting with Wycliffe and continuing to Eugene Peterson and beyond. The third part looks to the two main genres of Bible translation, showing how the two genres are, foundationally, vastly different. They have divergent goals for translation, divergent views of the Bible, divergent views of the Bible’s authors, reader and translators, divergent methods of translation and divergent styles of translation. In the fourth part he provides a vision for the ideal English Bible translation before, in part five, showing how an accurate, high-quality translation of the Bible is of critical importance to the life of the church." Thanks Tim for the Review.

(HT: Tim Challies)

Labels: Bible Translations, English Bible, ESV, Greek, Hebrew, NASB

Posted by Jonathan at Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

In this short series of posts my goal is to interact with the subject of contextualization as it relates to missiology and ecclesiology. Overall, my desire is to bring some clarity to the whole concept of contextualization as we work toward a definition. Several words have been used interchangeably with contextualization (accommodation, adaptation etc.), to describe some sort of process that involves communicating the gospel to unbelievers either by taking it to them (missiology) or by sharing it with them as they come to us (ecclesiology).

A significant matter of confusion as I see it is an ongoing debate concerning the rightful place of contextualization within the context of the local church. Are we to assume that agreed upon principles of contextualization that apply in missiological contexts equally apply to the Local Church? Of course, to carry on any meaningful dialogue on this point assumes the need for a definition of contextualization that we can work with for the sake of dialogue. I use the phrase "work with" rather than "agreed upon" so that we can at least get the ball rolling by establishing some boundary markers. By doing this we will be able to arrive at a clearer definition for what contextualization is by first establishing what it is not. Let me attempt to do just the following.

Model One

I observed last week that models of contextualization which start with the Scriptures are seeking to translate various biblical meanings into contemporary cultural contexts and forms of expression. This form of contextualization seeks to use images, metaphors, rituals, and words that are current in the culture in order to make the message both understandable and impactful. The underlying conviction, however, is placed on the communication of the Scriptures as the authoritative guide and not the directives of culture.

Model Two

We also observed, on the other hand, that models of 'contextualization' which give priority to the cultural setting attempt to arrive at an understanding of God and His communication to us experientially by using the culture as our foundation and the Bible merely as a guide. This model assigns control not to Scripture but to the cultural context. The goal of this model is to find what God is already doing in the culture rather than to communicate God’s eternal message within the cultural context.

Given the above clarifications, I would like to start with Model One as a working formulation for understanding contextualization. Though there is still much room for debate and discussion within model one, a dividing line needs to be drawn between what has traditionally been called contextualization as opposed to syncretism. The second category, I would argue, should not be called contextualization at all, as it something much closer to what we should be labeled as syncretism. So, in our movement toward a definition for biblical contextualization or accommodation, model one is in view and not model two.

A lot has been written on the subject of contextualization as it relates to missiology. In recent years, however, the subject has shifted in the west to a more focused interaction with ecclesiology. For some, the assumption is that whatever we mean by contextualization has to do with both missiological and ecclesiastical application. This raises the question of the relationship between contextualization to missiology and ecclesiology respectively.

I referenced Andrew Walls and his book, The Missionary Movement in Christian History as a helpful guide. There he distinguishes between what he calls the "indigenizing principle" and "pilgrim principle" in church history. The indigenizing principle witnesses to the Truth that God accepts sinners as they are, on the basis of Christ's atoning death and resurrection alone. Conversely, the pilgrim principle, is a conviction that here we have no lasting city and warns us that we are to be faithful to Christ, and to be faithful to Christ means being out of step with our society.

So as we talk about the relationship of contextualization to ecclesiology, I want to think in light of these two categories with the above working definition of contextualization at hand. We will think about the task of the church to be both indigenizing and pilgrim. As we move this conversation forward I hope it will become clearer to us whether or not contextualization should be stated in reference to the Local church as one of its responsibilities.

Labels: Contextualization, Ecclesiology, Local Church, Missiology, Transcultural

Posted by Jonathan at Monday, September 21, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Update - 9.17: What is contextualization? Toward a clearer understanding. See Below.

Let me be clear up front. I am far from being an expert on this issue. However, with you, I would like to explore this issue in a way that is constructive and helpful. I welcome your input and insights.

The word contextualization is scary to some people. It is also hard to define. Definitions of contextualization differ depending on the emphasis placed upon scripture and the cultural setting. Gailyn Van Rheenen offers us some help here:

"Models emphasizing scripture usually define contextualization as the translation of biblical meanings into contemporary cultural contexts. Therefore, images, metaphors, rituals, and words that are current in the culture are used to make the message both understandable and impactful. 'This assigns control to Scripture but cherishes the ‘contextualization’ rubric because it reminds us that the Bible must be thought about, translated into and preached in categories relevant to the particular cultural context' (Carson, Church and Mission: Reflections on Contextualization and the
Third Horizon. 1987, 219-20).

When the cultural setting is prioritized, however, God’s meaning is sought experientially within the culture using the Bible as a guide. This model more fully 'assigns control to the context; the operative term is praxis, which serves as a controlling grid to determine the meaning of Scripture' (Carson 1987, 219-20). The goal is to find what God is already doing in the culture rather than to communicate God’s eternal message within the cultural context" (Contextualization and Syncretism pp.2-3).

Evangelicals, place their emphasis on God’s revelation in Scripture. Since Scripture is authoritative in life and ministry, evangelicals largely view Van Rheenen's second option as syncretistic. To emphasize the cultural setting is would be to marginalized Scripture in the name of contextualization. So, Tite Tiénou describes contextualization as the inner dynamic of the theologizing process. He says,

"It is not a matter of borrowing already existing forms or an established theology in order to fit them into various contexts. Rather contextualization is capturing the meaning of the gospel in such a way that a given society communicates with God. Therein theology is born.” (Evangelical Theological Education Today: 2 Agenda for Renewal. 1982, p. 51)

Well, Tim Keller weighs in with what some will assume to be a helpful definition while others will conclude it to be reductionistic. He says,

"Contextualization is not giving people what they want. It is giving God’s answers (which they probably do not want) to the questions they are asking and in forms they can comprehend (FSI Lecture Series).

But the notion of culture is also as wide as it is vague. Raimundo Pannikar in Indian Christian Theology from the Perspective of Inculturation writes,

"Culture is the sum total of values and worldview by which a particular human group lives" (p. 20).

Cultures are not static but always undergoing change. Christianity, able to exist in all cultures, is transcultural. Christians believe the grounding for their faith and conduct comes from outside any one particular culture, so that you can be a genuine Christian as an Argentinian, Indian, Eskimo, or Irishman. We believe that the God of the Bible loves all of his children the same irrespective of the culture they come from. We believe that no one culture can claim to own the Christian God. The God we worship is outside of any one culture.

At the same time, Christians believe in the validity of culture. Underlying is a conviction that no religion, not Islam, not Hinduism and not Christianity should attempt obliterate these cultural differences, which lie at the core of what it means to be Tamil, Bengali, Maninka, Algerian, Russian or American. That is not to say that all aspects of a culture are equally praiseworthy. It is only to state that as Christians, it is not our aim to destroy the cultural identity of a group of people when we bring the gospel to them. In my travel overseas, I have always found it disingenuous to see western Christian stylistic expressions imported into a third-world context. Examples can be given and elaborated upon, but the basic idea is that as Christians we need to establish a line of demarcation between what are American Christian expressions, and what are Biblical forms and practices that should be imported everywhere since they are Scriptural and transcend culture.

Cultures can retain much of their cultural specifics when they embrace the gospel. Christians need not lose their cultural identity as Indians or Africans. A person can be deeply loyal as both Indian and Christian. Africans, for example, who distance themselves from certain cultural expressions in Africa out of Biblical conviction should not remove themselves from their culture. Rather their commitment to the Gospel places them, as it were, with one foot outside their culture, while the other foot remains firmly planted in it. Their Africanness is not erased, nor should it be.

Andrew Walls, in his excellent work, The Missionary Movement in Christian History has done some rigorous thinking for us in this area. From reading Walls, one will see that another way to understand the dynamic of Christian conversion is his tension between what he calls the "indigenizing principle" and the "pilgrim principle" in church history. The indigenizing principle witnesses to the Truth that God accepts sinners like us as we are, on the basis of Christ's atoning death and resurrection alone. The pilgrim principle on the other hand is a conviction that here we have no lasting city and warns us that we are to be faithful to Christ and to be faithful to Christ means being out of step with our society.

In my next post, I will focus on these two principles and elaborate on the particularities of them. Hopefully we will come to a better understanding of what it means to do engage a specific culture or people in both a transcultural and contextualized way.

Labels: Contextualization, Transcultural

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, September 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Jonathan McIntosh posted a thoughtful piece on the dangers of political ideology being confused with the gospel. Generally, I find it to be a balanced perspective and worth a read. His spirit is irenic and his conclusions are constructive. Prompted by a (tweet) from a friend, he wrote the following piece. Since then, he has received quite a bit of criticism and felt the need to write a follow-up piece entitled: Clarification on the Gospel and Political Conservatism.

He says,

"Last Thursday I wrote a post called Why Political Conservatism is Dangerous to the Gospel. Without being disingenuous, I was somewhat surprised by the controversy surrounding this post. Push-back is good, and it’s helped me clarify a few of my thoughts."

He then offers several clarifications. With that in mind, I would encourage you to go back to his original post and read it in light of his clarifications.

Whether you agree with him or not, his conclusions are thought-provoking.

"When political conservatism is confused for Christianity:

1. It creates false assurance: many who are not Christians wrongly assume that they are simply because of their conservative vote.

2. It makes enemies out of friends: Christians forget that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” and make enemies out of anyone who disagrees with their political ideology.

3. It becomes a barrier to mission: political liberals who are not Christians are given the idea that to embrace the gospel of Jesus means to become a conservative. Naturally they pass on this. But the wrong “gospel” has been presented to them – thus many haven’t even rejected the gospel at all, only a highly politicized version of it.

4. The wrong gospel is passed to the next generation: In training our children to be good conservatives instead of grace-filled believers, we help harden their hearts to the gospel. I grew up in a church that did a better job teaching me to be a political conservative than a lover of Jesus Christ. That was a church that was easy to leave." (HT: Jonathan McIntosh)

So what do you think?

Labels: Gospel, Jonathan McIntosh, Political Conservatism, Politics

Posted by Jonathan at Monday, September 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Kent Shaffer @ church relevance has put together a list of the top 100 church blogs based on data collected from various ranking criteria. He says that he took 181 well known blogs, collected data from each blog and used (Alexa Rank, Compete Visitors, Google PageRank, Google Reader Subscribers, Technorati Authority, and Technorati InLinks), to rank them. A composite rank for each blog is determined by averaging each blogs ranking from the 6 measured criteria. Kent admits that he chose some of the well known blogs, and asks for input regarding the ones that he has missed. You can see the full list with DesiringGod coming in first and Doug Wilson's Blog and Mablog rounding out the top 20.

Ed Stetzer, however, has an interesting and informative assessment of the findings. He says,

"First, it is fascinating to see how dominant the "Reformed camp" is in blog town. Some see the Emerging Church conversation in decline, so that may be reflected in the rankings. But there are many others who consider the Emerging Church as the leading voice calling for change in the church. However, clearly it is the Reformed who are getting traction in the blogosphere. (Now, of course, that could be because those Reformed people are not at all those great contemporary church conference and are, instead, home blogging!)"

Feel free to read the rest of his conclusions. Stetzer also lists all of blogs he personally reads.

Labels: Desiring God, Ed Stetzer, Top 100 Blogs

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, September 09, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Last week, we had the privilege of hosting Paul Washer for a weekend at Heritage Baptist Church and The Midwest Center for Theological Studies. He spoke to our pastoral students for the fall kick-off at MCTS. They were all helpful talks. However, the highlight of the weekend for me was Paul's Sunday evening address to our church. It really was one of those special moments when God's Spirit moves upon a place and hearts are obviously affected by the preaching. The end of this message is especially powerful when Paul quotes from John Flavel's third sermon from "The Fountain of Life Opened Up - The Covenant of Redemption Betwixt The Father and the Redeemer." I was so blessed, that I wanted to share it with you here. You can download or stream this message by clicking on the above image.

Labels: Heritage Baptist Church, Paul Washer, The Gospel, The MIdwest Center for Theological Studies

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, September 02, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post