Where is the Salt?

"God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christian tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat from going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: where is the salt?"

- John Stott, The Message of the Sermon On The Mount, p.65


Here is another great book on the Sermon on the Mount: The Sermon on the Mount, The Character of a Disciple, by Dan Doriani. Dr. Doriani used to teach New Testament at Covenant Seminary. He is a GREAT Bible teacher.

Interview with Thabiti Anyabwile on "What Is A Healthy Church Member"

I recently conducted an interview with Thabiti Anyabwile concerning his new book, "What Is A Healthy Church Member?" I encourage you to consider getting this book for personal and/or small group study. If all the people in our churches would read this book and take it to heart I think our churches and church leaders would be greatly blessed.

What inspired you to write this book?
By God’s grace, love for the local church. The Lord has knit us together in His body, making each member essential (1 Cor. 12:12-27). I long to see the Lord’s people live with full love and empathy for one another, making our life together as a redeemed people central to all our living. So much of the book market for individual Christians, however, leaves out the corporate aspect of the Christian life. There’s a great deal written to stimulate personal piety. But it’s often abstracted from the spiritual reality of the church. And it’s in the church that God intends for his people to be discipled (Eph. 4), to complete His love (1 John 4), to learn to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), and so on. So, I wanted to offer something that helped individual church members see the connectedness between their personal spiritual health and the health of their local church.

What is the main thesis of this book? Or, what is one main thing that you hope that people will take away from reading this book?
I would rejoice if the Lord would allow the readers of this book to walk away thinking, "I have a lot to contribute to the strength and vitality of my local church", and, "that has a lot to do with my own communion with the Lord". It’s my sense that most “average Christians” feel they can do little to make their churches places of sweeter communion, or they tend to think that improving the church means adopting a new method of some sort. I pray that What Is A Healthy Church Member? actually says, “No, you have a lot to contribute. Every member is essential. And here are some biblical recommendations for impacting your brothers and sisters in Christ right away.”

What do you feel like you personally learned from writing this book?
How poor my own soul can be at times, and how my poverty of soul is very often connected with my retreating from the Lord’s people. I’m a pastor, so in some sense I’m always around the Lord’s people if I’m fulfilling my call. But it’s possible to regularly gather with people and not be affected by their lives or edified by their gifts because, though we’re in a church with dozens or hundreds of other Christians, we’re thinking and living like individualists rather than a family. I see that in my own life sometimes and I think I see it in the lives of a lot of Christians. And yet, as you survey the New Testament you find that our spiritual welfare is almost always joined together with the welfare of the church or depicted in group terms. The local church is absolutely central to what it means to live a Christian life according to the New Testament. So, I have to do a better job of building my life around the local church and of encouraging my people to do so. It’s in our spiritual best interest as God designed it.

Who is this book for? (Seems like an obvious question given the title of your book, but do you have a more specific audience in mind?)
The book is written for the “average Joe” in the pew on Sunday mornings. Perhaps the Lord would grant that the book would reach those Christians with the nagging sense that they should be “doing more” but don’t know what that is. Perhaps it’s the Christian that runs through the mill on various church programs and is all volunteered-out. Or, maybe it’s the new Christian who discovers they have been birthed into a spiritual family but doesn’t know their part in it yet. I pray the book would be helpful to all those types and many more who would find their souls refreshed by doing the ordinarily profound work of listening well to the word, thinking God’s thoughts after Him, praying fervently, sharing the good news, and following godly leadership.

What influences did you draw upon to write this book?
The chief influence would be Mark Dever’s work with 9Marks Ministries and his books What Is A Healthy Church? and Nine Marks of a Healthy Church which were written primarily for pastors. Healthy Member essentially takes those nine marks and tries to think about them from the perspective of the average Christian church member. So, it’s an effort to help members along the path of supporting their leaders in strengthening the church.

Do you think church membership is undervalued in our current church culture? If so, why?
Certainly. There are probably a number of factors. We share five reasons why people undervalue church membership in our new members class:

First, some Christians are not well informed. They’ve simply never thought much about the issue or been taught that church membership matters and is biblical.

Second, some Christians are indifferent. They think of church as an optional extra, sort of like the sunroof or the heated seats in a new car. It’s nice if you desire it, but not necessary to operating the car, or in this case the Christian life.

Third, some Christians are committed individualists. Their conception of the Christian life stops with “my personal relationship with Jesus,” and fails to see that the broader family really is essential. Often, these persons can be somewhat anti-authority as well. If they see in the church or the church’s leadership something that feels or looks like real oversight, they may recoil at the thought of having people “intruding” into their lives. In that sense, they may think of themselves more highly than they do others and not appreciate church membership.

Fourth, some Christians may simply be indecisive. If they have a consumer’s mindset when it comes to finding a church, they may shop around forever until they find a “custom fit” for their spiritual lives. And, of course, no such custom fit really exists so they keep shopping and never commit to any one body.

Finally, some Christians struggle with an inversion of their affections. What I mean is they’re not opposed to church membership per se, they may even know its importance, but they are emotionally attached to some previous church even though they are physically hundreds of miles away in a new city or even country. They remember fondly the church of their youth, or a pastor that was really influential in their lives, and they sometimes think that joining a church where they now live is somehow to have less affection for that previous church. What we want to encourage people to recognize in this situation is that (a) they should work to join their hearts with their bodies and commit to a church where they live, and (b) joining a new church does not diminish their love for other saints.

Why is church membership important anyway?
“Member” is a Christian word, a biblical idea. Many people think that pastors who stress membership are borrowing from the Rotary Club or some secular outfit. Actually, the idea arise straight from the body metaphor in places like 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. And when you read those passages you see two remarkable things: (1) God designs the body to the point of arranging each member in it just as He pleases (1 Cor. 1:18), and (2) His intent is that through the church He would receive glory (Eph. 3:10) and His people would grow into the full maturity of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). If we are Christians but not attached to the body as recognized and functioning members of it, then (a) we, in effect, say that God does not know what He is doing in putting us in the body and we know better than God does, and (b) we think there is a path to glorifying God and reaching spiritual maturity that does not involve what God in His word says is essential and desirous. Church membership is simply a practical way of reflecting God’s glory as we live together in love, unity, peace and joy and of helping one another mature into Christlikeness. Those are critically important goals that can only be met through Christ’s body.

What other writing projects do you have in the works?
I’m working my way through a couple of things, which I would actually covet prayer for. I’ve been asked to write a book on “race,” more specifically, a Christian approach to thinking biblically about personal and group identity with an eye toward things like “race” and culture and the church. I’m also trying to finish up a short book recommending a gospel-centered approach to witnessing to Muslims, again aimed at the average Christian who may have little understanding of Islam. And I’m reviewing some chapters for a short, hopefully practical book on identifying potential elders and deacons in the local church.

On an unrelated note, I know both of us share a love for jazz music, or as you say “real jazz”. Give me your top 5 desert island recordings.

(Links are to Amazon or iTunes)
1. Miles Davis—Kind of Blue ()
2. John Coltrane—Either Blue Trane ()or A Love Supreme ()
3. Clifford Brown with Strings ()
4. Dinah Washington—Dinah Jams () (or alternatively, Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown)
5. Thelonius Monk—Straight, No Chaser ()

You can purchase "What Is A Healthy Church Member?" here.

Out of Ur Repents about "Willow Repents?"

Out of Ur blog:

In October 2007, Out of Ur posted what has now become a much read and much quoted commentary that we titled “Willow Creek Repents?” It was based on comments that Bill Hybels and Greg Hawkins, Willow Creek’s executive pastor, presented at the Leadership Summit, announcing the release of Reveal, a book emerging from an extensive study of Willow and other churches.

Earlier this month, Bill Hybels and Jim Mellado, president of the Willow Creek Association, posted a video on YouTube objecting to the “misinformation” published by Out of Ur and our sister publication Christianity Today regarding Reveal.

The week following the release of the video, I went to South Barrington to meet with leaders of Willow Creek to hear their concerns face to face, which was a very helpful experience. They shared with me new approaches to ministry prompted by Reveal that are in process and things they are not ready to have published. I will honor their trust. I certainly affirm the steps Willow is taking to more effectively turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ.

I do need to respond publicly to two items that were aired in the YouTube video.

Read the rest here.

A Celtics Win And The Body of Christ

Jim from ThinkChristian.net writes well here:

Congrats to the Boston Celtics for winning the National Basketball Association title last night. (And condolences to my friends in LA.)

This season, the team has stressed, well, teamwork by adopting the South African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too). In English, it roughly translates to “I am, because we are.” I love it!

“A person is a person through other people,” coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers explained. “Because as good as you are, you can only be great or get what you want through other people.”

The apostle Paul illustrates this truth by describing the church as the body of Christ:

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it (1 Corinthians 12:14-26).

Ubuntu,

Sex in the Church

C. Michael Patton has a good post for Parchment and Pen called, "Sex in the Church". He sums up:

The bottom line is that we spend a great deal of time in parenting discussing the need for boundaries. Where the boundaries are clear, there is more freedom. Kids in a fenced yard take advantage of the whole area. Kids who are told not to cross the property line, but don’t really know or can’t agree where it is, stay close to the house. I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be fences. I’m saying that the church is great at building fences and yet, in this area, tell married couples that the “gate” is now open but “don’t stray too far”. Not knowing what “far” is, we stay close enough to the old fence to touch it. That isn’t freedom. The church owes it to the marriages of its members to do better than that. They should not be embarrassed or shamed for seeing the green grass on the other side of the fence and wanting to take a stroll in it, but being afraid because they don’t know where the boundaries are. And considering the dangers of even thinking certain thing in this area, there is a lot of guilt and shame that people have for even bringing these subjects up in case they were thinking sinfully. It’s a huge gray area that the church doesn’t really shine a light on.

Why is it that the church seems to have no problem with all the “thou shalt not’s” and fences before and outside marriage, but is eerily silent about what is and is not permissible within the confines of the Christian marriage bed? Is that a good thing? Or, do you agree with me that the church needs to supply some information on this topic before people go to the world for it? Is it a sin to go against your conscience about something that is only based on cultural norms (do we even still have those?) when there is no Biblical reason for it? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them…

Read the whole thing.

Hybels Talks About Willow Misinformation Surrounding "Reveal"

Our of Ur blog:

In a video released on June 5, Bill Hybels discusses the “unfortunate” reporting that has revolved around Willow Creek’s REVEAL survey. The video refers to a recent Christianity Today article and Out of Ur posts as examples of “misinformation.” You can watch Hybels’ full interview with Jim Mellado, the president of the Willow Creek Association, here.

Mega-Church = False Gospel?

“If you preach the law as the Bible really does, or the gospel as it’s really meant to be proclaimed, you will empty the Compaq Center.”
- Dr. Michael Horton

T-Wax has a helpful qualification to this quote from Dr. Horton. I'm sure Dr. Horton would agree. Trevin writes:

I agree with Dr. Horton that, if he has in mind Joel Osteen’s church in Houston (which meets at the Compaq Center), he is probably right. Were Osteen to preach the biblical gospel, he would probably lose a great number of his people. Osteen’s messages are motivational speeches, not biblical sermons. So, yes, if Osteen were to begin preaching about sin, grace, and redemption, the people who flock to hear him week to week would probably go somewhere else.

But we should not take Horton’s remarks as referring to any mega-church.

It would be a shame for us to grow suspicious of any ministry that sees a measure of numerical success. We could easily adopt a mindset that says, If a mega-church pastor is seeing numerical growth, he must be doing something wrong. He must be watering down the gospel. He must be giving them entertainment over substance. Otherwise why would he have so many people?

Read the whole thing.

D.A. Carson on the Local Church

Jonathan Leeman reports:

Adrian Warnock has a good video interview with D. A. Carson filmed during the recent New Word Alive conference. Beginning at minute 2 is a discussion concerning the role of the local church and the role of the seminary and why professors should dream of being pastors. Here's a few lines:

• "The front line is the local church, and there's a sense in which the seminary is a back up slot."
• "The first impetus toward ministry and toward stamping people for what ministry ought to be ought to be within the context of the local church."
• "A good seminary, a good theological college, helps to provide the kind of training, and further exposure, more technical knowledge, grasp of the language, this sort of thing, that virtually no local church can produce."
• "Yet it's really important for those who teach in such places, nevertheless, to be pastors first, because if they think of themselves as teachers and scholars first, then they tend to produce teachers and scholars. So there's a stamping not simply from the course materials, but from your own values, what you think about, what you dream about."
• "So at our seminary, we always hire a certain percentage of faculty who wish they were in the pastoral ministry or else, quite frankly, we don't want them. Now, they have to be academically competent and all the rest. But we don't want people who just want to be in a seminary.We want people who, in many ways, would prefer to be in the local church."

Church Quote Of The Day

If you treat your church like a business, you will treat other churches like your competition.

-Jared Wilson

Introverts and Extroverts and the Mission of the Church

Dr. Anthony Bradley from Covenant Theological Seminary, asks some interesting questions dealing with introverts and extroverts as it pertains to the mission of the church. As a guy who leans more toward the introverted side I found it worth thinking over.