Sovereign Grace - It Makes Us Go 2

In the previous post we began to look at Ephesians 1:11-14,

“11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

We dove into the first phrase, "in him".  Now we must grapple with the next, "we have obtained an inheritance".  What is this inheritance? How do we obtain it? What does this mean? How is this connected to sovereign grace?

The inheritance that we we obtain "in him" is that of the Kingdom of God. We have been transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son.  You see, by being "in him" we have all that he has.  Just take a look at Ephesians 1:3-10 for a sense of the inheritance.

We gain this inheritance by being "in him" and get to be "in him" by his grace.  There is nothing that we can do to earn our way into being "in him" we are all broken beyond recognition.  That's the way it is.  If you don't believe me, look in the mirror. Seriously, can you tell me you're not broken? I know I am.  I am broken beyond self-repair.

So, we need help, we need to be brought in and we are done so by his grace. Check out Ephesians 2.

This all means that we have been given something that is bigger than ourselves and we have a responsibility to do something with it.  We must act now in response.  We don't have to.  That is the beauty of sovereign grace.  We are not needed but we are wanted. This is significant.  It means that we can respond to God in proportion as we come to grips with a deeper more full understanding of his grace.

We can't judge ourselves by others.  We can only look at the inheritance and ask, "How am I responding?"

So, how are you responding? What kind of grace have you experienced?

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Book Review - Right Here, Right Now by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford

Right Here, Right Now: Everyday Mission for Everyday People (Shapevine)

 by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford is one of the most recent additions to the missional library. The book is very helpful as a primer for those entering into the conversation for the first time or for those who are trying to figure out how to move from ethereal to action.

This text has a simple structure beginning with a "Briefing" by Hirsch where he summarizes The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church

 in about 30 pages.  This forces him to be succinct and clear when dealing with the philosophical edge of missional thinking.  The book ends with a "Debriefing" where Hirsch is able to fill in any philosophical gaps that resulted in the rest of the text.

The meat of the book is broken into three sections written by Ford with sidebar comments from Hirsch: Putting Our Hearts Into It (Missional Paradigm), Wrapping Our Heads Around It (Missional Analysis), and Doing Something About It (Missional Action).

Putting our Hearts Into It covers the perspective or paradigm shift that has to take place for followers of Jesus need to make to really engage in missional activity. The shift is that of seeing the world with a "missionary's eye", the second is that of being people of peace, the third is getting a proper view of the gospel.

Wrapping Our Heads Around It contains three chapters that cover issues surrounding our culture and how we ought to relate to it.  Ford adeptly critiques Western culture.  After that he argues for a missional lifestyle that frees us from the trappings of the American Dream.  Finally, he provides insight into how to understand the largely suburban world within which most American Christians find themselves.

Doing Something About It looks at the systemic and practical approaches to creating a community wide missional approach. Ford discusses the house church and small group movement, followed by a practical approach to hospitality, and ends the section with a discussion on what it means to be scattered a people of God.

Each chapter concludes with practical steps to take to help you activate what you are reading.

I found this to be one of the most helpful books on the subject that I have read.  Hirsch and Ford have found a nice balance between philosophy and application.  The writing is down to earth and accessible.

The only criticism I have is that in some ways this text can come across as very individualistic.  While community is discussed and the importance of relationships comes through, Hirsch's groundbreaking concept of "Communitas" is largely missing as a word to shape the conversation.  I think an opportunity was missed to bring this concept more into the mainstream.

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Book Review - Church Planting Movements by David Garrison

Church Planting Movements: How God is Redeeming a Lost World

 by David Garrison and published by the International Mission Board is a very helpful text. I thoroughly appreciated this little book in its simplicity. David did not write more than he needed too. He laid out the need, the vision, and the how-to in a way that is easily grasped. This text is perfect for any person who is stepping outside of Western Christendom trying to figure out how engage the world in a more biblical way.

Garrison defines Church Planting Movements (CPM) as "A rapid and exponential increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment (8)." The key words being rapid, exponential, indigenous, planting. If one can grasp these things then we are able to replicate this model.

I really appreciated the structure of the text and how succinct it is. He lays out the core components of a CPM in chapters 3-5 with a list of ten components each. He also provides the leader with answers to FAQ's and obstacles. The stories from countries around the world paint a clear picture of how CPM's work.

I have two criticisms of the text. The first is that in the definition of a healthy church there is no mention of church discipline. This is a key component to keeping a church healthy in the long run. The absence of such has led to the downfall of most of Western Christendom. The second is that there are no stories of this happening in a Western context. While I understand that David works for the International Mission Board, if this is going to be global then it needs to include examples of this working in all contexts. It may be that this is not happening in the West. However, it seems unlikely since I can think of a number of CPM's that are being developed in metro Detroit, MI.

All in all, I would strongly recommend this book. It will be especially helpful for leaders who are moving away from the Boomer Generation's "If you build it, they will come" mentality and the "attractional" mode of church.

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Home office.

Taken with picplz at The Rose Home in Canton, MI.

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Life, Death, and the Mystery of Control

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Sovereign Grace - It Makes Us Go

As I continue to wrestle through the implications of theology in every day mission I am struck by a simple little question, "How do we keep at it?"

We have looked at Jesus as the theological center, we have looked at the centrality of being "in Christ", and so now we must consider the role of sovereign grace in this whole thing. You may wonder why I would place sovereign grace here in the midst of this discussion. I mean, we could naturally look at the person of the Holy Spirit and his role in the incarnational church.  We could naturally look at the importance of the Scriptures.  However, it seems to me that we need to grapple with how we get "in Christ" and we need to come to grips with the sovereignty of God in all that we are.

I think the best place to begin is with a little Bible, Ephesians 1:11-14,

"11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."

This little snippet from Ephesians is so full of goodness that we need to work through it over the course of a few posts.  Let's begin with the first phrase, "In him".  We are reminded again that the this is the central understanding of who we are people.  We are people who are "in him".  This is the primary marker of our identity.

Paul wants it to be clear that to be "in him" is the context for all that follows. Ae we pursue our brief analysis of this passage we must keep our in-himness in the front of our minds.

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Ecclesiastes - The Giver...Not the Gifts

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