The Boston Marathon Horror: A Response

As I write, one alleged Boston Marathon bomber is dead; the other is on the run. Both, apparently, are Muslim; both have been in the US for more than a decade. The younger brother was an excellent, scholarship-winning student and captain of his high school’s wrestling team. The older brother was a boxer.

These young men grew up in schools and in communities like those around Charlotte. They played sports, they hung out with friends, they worked hard in school.

And then they attempted to commit mass murder.

How should we respond to this shocking tragedy?

Here are four biblical guidelines:

First: We all rightly long for justice. Our God is the moral authority in the universe. He will see to it that all sin are paid for, all wrongs duly punished. Vengeance is not in our hands as individuals (Romans 12:19). Our anger and bitterness and vitriol will not effect justice (James 1:20). In the present age, however, God has provided the government to act as His “servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4)

Second: Your prayers matter. In light of government’s heavy responsibility, the Apostle Paul instructs us:

I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

So may we thank God for the hundreds of police who, right now, are tracking down the fugitive – many risking their lives. May we lift up civil servants and political leaders who make decisions about lockdowns and public transport and school closures. May we pray for judges and attorneys should the fugitive be captured and tried. And may this episode end with increased confidence throughout our nation that our authorities will act bravely and professionally to enable us to live peaceful and quiet lives.

Third: Life is fleeting. Lu Lingzi, Martin Richard, and Krystle Campbell woke up this Monday excited to watch friends and loved ones run the Marathon. They had plans for that evening, this weekend, and years into the future. And in a flash, murderers snuffed out their lives.

How long do I have in this world? How long do you? We have no idea. As James tells us:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16).

James is not telling us to forget about plans for the future. Rather, we must live knowing that we are dependent, fragile creatures, living and breathing today by the mercy of God. Thus, we should live humbly before the eyes of our all-knowing, all-seeing, all-sovereign Lord, confessing that He knows best, and gladly subjecting ourselves to Him, for His glory.

Finally: Your light matters. The deceased alleged bomber wrote, “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.” Note that he came to the US more than ten years ago. Yet Scripture instructs us:

When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him.  You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.  (Leviticus 19:33-34)

What might have happened if a follower of Christ had done unto Tamerlan Tsarnaev as he would that others do to him? How might lives have been changed if followers of Christ had been salt and light in this young man’s life?

And what might happen if you and I love the foreigners among us? If you and I reach out to those who have come to study, to those who have come because of war and chaos, to those who have come because of political oppression?

Our response to this tragedy must not be to shrink back into a fear of foreigners. Our Lord calls us to go, to be light and salt – so that others may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, we are heirs of eternal life, entrusted with the message of God’s abundant mercy, to be proclaimed to all. May the horror of Boston compel us all the more to be His ambassadors, His heralds, holding out the word of life with love and compassion to all the peoples God has brought to Charlotte.

 

“We Want God!”

What are people longing for?

Consider the attention paid this week to the conclave of cardinals in Vatican City. Roman Catholics, of course, followed events closely. But interest in the selection of a new pope crosses Catholic/Protestant divisions, crosses secular/religious divisions. NPR, the New York Times, and the Washington Post highlighted the news from Rome; the Times of London and the Times of India headlined Pope Francis.

Why such interest?

Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal this week, suggests this interest reflects a longing:

After all the strains and scandals they still came running. A pope was being picked. The smoke came out and the crowd was there in St Peter’s Square. They stood in the darkness, cold and damp, and they waited and cheered and the square filled up. As the cameras panned the crowd there was joy on their faces, and the joy felt like renewal.

People come for many reasons. To show love and loyalty, to be part of something, to see history. But maybe we don’t fully know why they run, or why we turn when the first reports come of white smoke, and put on the TV or the computer. Maybe it comes down to this: “We want God.” Which is what millions of people shouted when John Paul II first went home to Poland. This is something in the human heart, and no strains or scandals will prevail against it.

“We want God.” Yes, and more: “We want to see people who have a real relationship with God. We want to encounter those who are not going through life amassing the greatest number of toys. We want to know that there are those who are neither hypocritical nor power-hungry. We want God – and we want to know those who truly follow Him.”

That longing exists among those around you: in Charlotte, in Concord, in Matthews, in Fort Mill, in Cornelius, in Davidson. That longing exists among your relatives, your friends, your colleagues.

So: When those with such a longing look at you, what do they see?

Do you look like you are pursuing comfort and ease? Do you look like someone who just goes through the motions of some religion to make good contacts and assuage your conscience?

Or do you look like – rather, are you truly – poor in spirit, mourning over sin and its effects, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, and pure in heart?

Jesus says those who follow Him are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Again and again He says, “You must not be like the hypocrites.” Rather, those around us are to see our good works, and give glory to our Father – for they see Him in and through us.

This longing – “We want God!” – is all around us. In many it is suppressed and hidden. In some it is on the surface and obvious. In others it may not be present at all. But as our Lord told the Apostle Paul about Corinth: “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10).

He has many people in this city also. They have the longing. They don’t know the Savior. They have abandoned what they saw as a hypocritical church; or they have been hurt by overbearing pastors. They have seen that money and success don’t lead to joy; or they have seen that alcohol and drugs destroy their joy. They find their relationships crumbling; or they have spent decades in loneliness and isolation. They have seen the dead end of amusing themselves to death; or they have found that even good health and a big family and close friends don’t ultimately satisfy. From deep within they cry out, “We want God!” – but they don’t know where to find Him. They don’t know how to know Him.

So will you be salt and light? You have the answer! Jesus says the harvest is plentiful. Do you believe it?

Ask those around you about Good Friday, about Easter; ask about the selection of the new pope – if they were interested, and if so, why?  Ask if God were to do a miracle in their life, what would they like it to be? Offer to open up God’s Word in their home. Take the church to them – and see what God does.

Will you be rejected? Surely yes, by some. Will you be mocked, or even reviled? Our Savior says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11).

Will you see the longing? Will you witness tears of repentance? Will you be present as God’s Spirit works to bring another into His Kingdom?

Step out. God will work. “We want God!” May they find Him through you.

 

What Jesus Started: Joining the Movement, Changing the World

Yesterday I finished an excellent book by Steve Addison, What Jesus Started: Joining the Movement, Changing the World. Steve highlights six elements of the movement Jesus started, and thus six elements of any church planting movement: See the need, connect with people, share the Gospel, train disciples, gather communities, and multiply workers. He uses this grid to look sequentially at Jesus’ ministry on earth, Jesus’ work through Peter and the early church, Jesus’ work through Paul, and Jesus’ work today. In between each section, he includes modern case studies: of Jeff Sundell‘s work in south Asia and North Carolina, of Ying Kai’s work in east Asia, and of Julius Ebwongu in Uganda. Here are some quotes:

When Michelle and I planted our first church, we felt we had to form a church to share the gospel and make disciples. Church first, then gospel, then disciples. Evangelism for us typically meant inviting someone to come to church. Two decades later we’ve learned to change the order and priorities to gospel first, then disciples, then churches. When we connect with people, we’re not trying to get them to come to our church. We share the good news about Jesus, not the good news about our church. We’re looking for responsive people. As people are putting their faith in Jesus, they are also learning to obey what he commanded and become disciples. . . .

God used unqualified, inexperienced, under-resourced people. Think about what this missionary movement didn’t have. Funding was limited. There was no central organizational structure. There was no professional priesthood. No schools for training missionaries. Galileans were not well thought of throughout the rest of Israel. Jews were cultural outsiders in the dominant Greco-Roman culture. The political and religious powers of the day were against the disciples. There were no historical precedents for what they were trying to achieve. The disciples only had Jesus’ example, his teaching, the message of his death and resurrection, his authority, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, they had very little to aid them in their mission. . . .

The building and equipping of his church is exactly what Jesus’ kingly rule is designed to produce. The gospel of the kingdom is not an alternative to the gospel of Christ crucified for our sin. Jesus came to announce the reign of God and to perform the decisive act through which God will bring in his reign. Talking about the kingdom of God requires us to talk about the cross, the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. . . .

The goal is not to teach new disciples everything they need to know. It is to teach new believers the habit of obedience to what they know. . . .

There is a world of difference between a command to teach disciples and a command to teach disciples to obey. The former focuses on the teacher, the latter on the learner. The first is concerned with transferring information; the second is concerned with life transformation. Learning to obey Christ is the goal of discipleship. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present as new disciples gather around his Word and learn to follow him one step at a time. Our methods must be simple and transferable so that new disciples can immediately begin teaching others. Evangelism that aims at decisions rather than disciples will never produce a multiplying movement. Movements spread through new believers who hear, believe and obey! . . .

Spreading a Passion Through the Overflow of Your Heart

Why are we here?

Why are we here as a church? Why are we here as individuals?

Why doesn’t God just open our eyes to see the magnificence of Jesus, save us by grace through faith – and then translate us into His presence? Why doesn’t He immediately remove us from this world? It seems like that would result in our having a lot more joy and a lot less sorrow. Think of the various sorrows you would not have experienced had He acted that way.

Indeed, if God’s goal were to minimize the pain that His people go through after salvation, undoubtedly He would take us to Himself immediately.

But He doesn’t. Why not? That is: Why are we here?

Over the six years of our existence as a church, we answered that question with different phrases. Our mission statement is a direct answer to that question: We exist as a church to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. We have taught that the Bible gives the church a threefold purpose: Expressing joy in Christ, deepening joy in Christ, and spreading joy in Christ. The first two occur both now and in eternity. The last is peculiar to our time in this world.

Scripture uses different images to get this point across:

  • Paul says we are “ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
  • Jesus refers to us as those who are sent out: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21)
  • Our Savior tells us we are to lovers of God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37)
  • And He tells us we are to be lovers of our neighbors: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
  • When we live this way by His grace through His Spirit, we are godlike, spreading His image: “As he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

Do you see the connections among these descriptions of us? As John Piper notes, “You can’t commend what you don’t cherish.” If we are spread a passion for Him, we must be passionate about Him. Then we can be His ambassadors, sent by Him, like Jesus, both the proclaim the Good News, and to live out the Good News in acts of love. In this way, we truly are like Him in this world, displaying His image, His likeness

So this is why we are here. God gives us Himself, and then He gives us pain, He gives us trials, He gives us challenges – as well as joys, successes, and accomplishments – so that we might display Who He is.

So every pain, every trial, every challenge is an opportunity to display the glory of God. We will display that glory if in the midst of trials we remember Who He is, live in accordance with that truth, and proclaim that truth to others.

If we, then, are here in this world rather than in God’s presence in order to spread joy in Christ, how does this spreading happen?

Let me answer that in a roundabout way. Trust me that we’re going to get back to biblical spreading.

In a program-driven church, spreading occurs in large measure through scheduled activities:

  • “We do evangelism 10am to noon Saturday mornings. Come out with us and speak of who Jesus is.”
  • “Tuesday nights at 7 we have a class on sharing the Gospel. Come learn how to spread!”
  • “Thursday evenings at 6pm we offer a meal and then a course that takes 6 weeks to explain the Gospel to unbelievers. Bring your unsaved friends!”

None of those activities are bad. We have often done similar activities. We may do all again in the future.

The problem arises when we attend a Saturday morning evangelistic effort and then say, “OK, I can check off evangelism for this week!” Paul did not say, “We are ambassadors for Christ two hours each week.” We are ambassadors. We exist to spread joy in Christ. We are always as He is in this world.

So the biblical mandate is to be an ambassador, to be a sent one, to be one who loves God with all your heart.

One who is an ambassador of Christ may well structure formal activities in order to live out that calling. But he is an ambassador all the time. And we certainly cannot schedule love for God with all our heart for a few hours each week!

So what are we aiming at here at Desiring God Community Church?

We aim to be a community of God-enamored people, of Gospel-enamored people, spurring each other on to love Him all the more, speaking to each other out of overflowing hearts about who Jesus is. As my friend Tim Cain puts it, we want DGCC to be a church where we exhort one another, “Tell me something that you learned this week that blows you away about the majesty of Jesus.” We want to leave Sunday morning services asking each other, “What did you see of the glory of God the Father in that sermon?” “What lyrics or Scriptures today thrilled you about the person of Jesus?” We want to come together in small groups and ask, “What have you seen of God’s character in your devotions this week?”

So, a program-driven church might emphasize that everyone should be in a small group in order to get to know a few people well, to feel attached to the church, to give each person a task, with the goal of assimilating everyone into the life of the church.

Once again, those are not bad things. Hopefully our small groups will yield those secondary benefits.

But in a Gospel-enamored church, small groups are a scheduled opportunity to do what should be happening all the time: Fulfilling the biblical one another commands.

Here is a partial list of those commands (here is a complete list, with references)

  • Love one another (earnestly, from a pure heart)
  • Abound in love for one another
  • live in harmony with one another
  • do not pass judgment on one another
  • welcome one another
  • greet one another
  • care for one another
  • serve one another
  • bear one another’s burdens
  • bear with one another in love
  • be kind to one another
  • Address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
  • submit to one another
  • do not lie to one another
  • forgive one another
  • teach one another
  • admonish one another
  • encourage one another
  • exhort one another
  • build one another up
  • do good to one another
  • stir up one another to love and good works
  • do not speak evil against one another
  • do not grumble against one another
  • confess your sins to one another
  • pray for one another
  • show hospitality to one another
  • clothe yourselves with humility toward one another

My friends, these are the marks of a Gospel-enamored church. These are the marks of hearts changed by God’s grace. Out of the overflow of that grace, in chance meetings and in scheduled meetings, we give grace to one another, we speak of God’s grace to one another. Our cups overflow in word and deed. Speaking of Christ to one another becomes natural.

So what does this have to do with spreading? Much in every way!

First, when speaking of Christ is natural with believers, speaking of Christ will also become natural with unbelievers. We will then commend what we cherish. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Second, when such interactions are common among us, the church as a whole is a tremendous witness to the truth of the Gospel. When we live out the “one another” commands, others will notice the depth of our relationships, the extent of our love, the sincerity of our concern, and the quality of our joy. Living in this way commends the Gospel in ways that words never will.

So will you pray to this end? Will you pray that we would be such a community? Will you pray that each of us individually might be so enamored with Christ that our lips cannot but speak of Him? Will you pray that our life together would be characterized by the fulfillment of these one another commands?

And will you pray that we then might indeed spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ?

Videos on Death, Resurrection, and Life

An Anglican church in central London has produced two excellent 3-4 minutes videos aimed at skeptics. The first, “That’s Easter: Life to Death” highlights the pervasive nature of sin and guilt, and the solution offered in Christ. The second, “That’s Easter: Death to Life” presents evidence for the historical reliability of the passion and resurrection accounts. Highly recommended.


THAT’S EASTER Life to Death from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

THAT’S EASTER Death to Life from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor