If you are just joining the discussion (that as of yet has not been much of a discussion) then please check out the foreword, intro, and chapter one.  You can catch up pretty easily.  If you have yet to buy the book I would suggest buying it for a paltry 9 bucks, here. 

Quick Summary:

This chapter gives us instructions for beginning the work.  The most important thing to do early on is to clarify the gospel.  In the previous chapter we were urged to be patient.  In this chapter that statement is qualified: “…the one thing you don’t want to be slow about is preaching the Gospel.” (44)  The Gospel is the most important aspect of our ministry.  Perhaps one of the most important principles in this book is contained in this sentence: “What you win them with is what you win them to.” 

So, how do you go about clarifying the gospel?  Dever gives a few tips.  1) Put yourself in the background, and preach Christ crucified.  2) Let the content of the gospel do the work.  Rather than working on attracting people to you work on attracting them to the Gospel.  3) Let Jesus do the talking as much as possible.  It would be wise to begin preaching through one of the Gospel accounts.  Dever closes this section with this: “The more your congregation is clear on the Gospel, the less likely it is either tepid nominalism or carnal divisiveness will find air to breathe…”  (45)

Alongside clarifying the Gospel another important beginning work is to cultivate trust; because “people have to trust you if they’re going to follow you”.  We are then given three ways to cultivate trust.  1) Expositional preaching.  This will show people that you stand upon the Word of God and not your own ideas.  2) Personal relationships.  This is simple, people will trust you if they know you.  Dever did not mention it but the old adage is fitting here: people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.  3) Humility.  If you pursue accountability and correction it will go a long way in bringing trust.  Not only that the accountability and correction will serve for your own personal growth.

Another beginning work is to clean the rolls.  (This may be the most difficult and controversial).  Rotary clubs clear members so why doesn’t the church?  Church membership should mean more than membership to a Rotary club.  There are biblical, pastoral, and evangelistic reasons for cleaning the rolls.  Dever will discuss this in more detail in a later chapter.  A good way to begin this work is to “contact negligent members in order to instruct them and notify them of your intentions, and remove them.”  (48)

The last thing suggested as a beginning work is to conduct reverse membership interviews.  Dever suggests going through the church membership, start with the most recent members, and begin interviewing them.  This helps to clarify the Gospel, to look for genuine conversion, and to build relationships. 

Quotables:

“…when we assume the Gospel instead of clarifying it, people who profess Christianity but don’t understand or obey the Gospel are cordially allowed to presume their own conversion without examining themselves for evidence of it—which may amount to nothing more than a blissful damnation.”  (43)

“The Gospel of Christ has never needed the gimmicks of man to effect conversion in the soul.”  (44)

“…leaders usually have more opportunities to do things wrongly!”  (46)

“If membership is the church’s public affirmation of a person’s conversion, then to leave a nonattender on the rolls could very well be damningly deceptive.”  (48)

Questions:

• What do you think of a pastor that insist on keeping a “professional distance” between he and his congregation? 
• What are you preliminary thoughts on “cleaning the membership rolls”?
• What is your opinion of reverse membership interviews?
• Are there other ways to cultivate trust than those mentioned?

These are brought to you by FailBlog.org

I am so unbelievably sick of Christian radio; at least its expression in our area.  I am so unbelievably tired of living with Christianese that makes moralism a replacement for the gospel.  I am really tired of our church culture being more like the superstitious heresy of Colossae than the biblical gospel. 

I was driving to the gas station to get a soda and mistakenly left the radio on Christian radio.  The radio announcers were talking about hope.   I have to confess I caught the tail end of everything they were saying, but the mantra sounded the same as it usually does: “Get into God and he’ll fix your life”.  You know that this isn’t the gospel don’t you?  You do realize that the gospel is not about God fixing your marriage, don’t you?  You do realize that the gospel is not about God restoring your finances, don’t you?  Will God fix your marriage—probably.  Will God restore your finances—maybe.  But neither of those is the gospel. 

There is always a danger of making the gospel out to be something that does not touch your every day life.  A good portion of Christians live as if the gospel has no effect upon every square inch of their life.  That is sad.  But it is equally dangerous to present the gospel as the effects of the gospel. 

You know what…you may love Jesus, seek to follow him in all things, be obedient to him for all the days of your life and your marriage be in shambles.  You may be faithful at tithing, a sacrificial giver, love Jesus deeply and be broke living from home to home without a place to lay your head at night (for an example of this see Jesus).

Let me say this loud and clear: THE GOSPEL IS NOT ABOUT FIXING YOUR LIFE!  The gospel might fix your life.  John Piper is absolutely correct, the greatest gift of the Gospel is God Himself.  Anything else is an overflow of that.  

I wonder do we believe the gospel enough to be like Job.  Job was a righteous man.  Job would have been qualified to be a special guest on Focus on the Family.  Job was living the “Christian life”.  But Job lost everything.  What was his response?  Give more money to the 700 Club?  Check his disciplines and try to figure out where he screwed up to cause God to do this?  Here is Job’s gospel-driven response, “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.”  AND WORSHIPED!!!   

I beg you PLEASE stop making the gospel into something that it’s not!!!  Jesus did not come to make you a successful American. 

Feel free to disagree…

AN EAGLE sat on a lofty rock, watching the movements of a Hare whom he sought to make his prey. An archer, who saw the Eagle from a place of concealment, took an accurate aim and wounded him mortally. The Eagle gave one look at the arrow that had entered his heart and saw in that single glance that its feathers had been furnished by himself. "It is a double grief to me," he exclaimed, "that I should perish by an arrow feathered from my own wings." (From Aesop’s Fables)

How often is this true in our Christian walk? Moreover, how often does this happen with unregenerate man? I do not think that Satan has to be in the business of making darts to shoot our way. I think he uses arrows that we ourselves have crafted.

Take James 1:14-15 for example: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” If there is not a messed up desire then Satan has no power to lure you. It is only because of a disordered affection that Satan is given an opportunity for destruction.

Or consider Ephesians 4:26-27: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” This is another way of saying “don’t leave the door cracked so that the devil can get his foot in”. The principle here is that if you do not leave the door cracked he will not have easy access. If you want to be destroyed then harbor anger and bitterness. Hanging on to anger is like crafting an arrow and handing it to Satan to shoot straight into your heart.

I think we often go through life wondering why we get wounded so much. Part of it because we are fallen people living in a fallen world. We are not yet fully redeemed and neither is our environment; pain is inevitable. However, many of our wounds come from arrows that we ourselves have crafted. Such as:

• The alcoholic whose life is in shambles because he cannot kick the bottle. With each purchase of a case of Budweiser, each trip to the bar, each party you are crafting an arrow and asking Satan to shoot you in the chest
• The husband or wife that hang on to bitterness. With each unresolved conflict, each refusal to speak truth, each entrenched refusal to forgive, and each night of refusing to make the gospel central they are crafting an arrow and asking Satan to shoot their home full of fiery darts.
• The teenager that hops from ungodly relationship to ungodly relationship. With each empty ‘I love you’, each touch that went too far, each flirtatious look, each loaded text message, each “innocent” massage, each obsessed and smothering moment, and each non-gospel centered date or wish of a date you are crafting an arrow and asking Satan to destroy your heart with it.
• The pastor that refuses accountability or is too prideful to delegate. With each new item on his agenda, each busy moment spent in planning instead of prayer, each corner that is cut in sermon prep, each guard that is ignored to protect his purity, and each moment he spends as a pastor instead of a son he is crafting an arrow and asking Satan to wreck him.

The situations are numerous. And we will find when we come wounded and scarred before Jesus that a good portion of our wounds came from arrows that we crafted. But the beauty of the gospel is that Jesus heals our wounds no matter who crafted the arrow. This is why the answer to your wounds is not more pills, more education, more free time, more rules or regulations, more relationships, more counseling sessions, or more spiritual disciplines. These are good, they help, but they cannot do what only Jesus can. Only Jesus can heal.

If you find that you are in the business of making arrows to give to Satan, your answer is not to try harder and start a focused regimen to not make arrows. Your answer is to be so drenched with the gospel and so enthralled with Jesus that you are either too in love to make arrows or too gospel soaked to feel their sting. And when you mess up and hand Satan an arrow, take the stupid thing out (repent) and go to Jesus for healing (faith).

Much of what I have learned in preaching has come through failure; and I have a ton to learn so I wonder if this means I have much more failure on the horizon.  Here is a principle that I learned the hard way a couple of weeks ago:

“The preacher is passionate.  This week’s preparation has engaged the preacher’s affections.  The sermon starts at an intense and animated register.  The problem is that the people have not had the preparation time given the preacher.  They do not yet see the truth that has ignited the preacher’s grand style, so they wonder what has the preacher so worked up.  But if the preacher will somewhat restrain while instructing so that all may see the light of the truth clearly, then when illustrating, the mixture of affection and explanation builds.  Application in a style more grand and designed to move the hearer will have a more solid foundation.”  (Eswine, Preaching to a Post-Everything World, p129)

In other words don’t floor it and go from 0-120mph in the first 30 seconds…otherwise your congregation will spill coffee in their lap and probably have a sore neck.  I made this mistake a couple of weeks ago.  I was extremely passionate about our need to rise above mediocrity as believers and I asked some very pointed questions in the introduction.  The problem is much of it was lost because I think the students were asking, “what has Mike so worked up”.  And these students know me well…we have been together for 5 years now.  Had I only waited and built up to those questions I think they would have had a far greater impact. 

Now, I certainly believe that the Holy Spirit can use truth in whatever form it is presented.  Not all is lost.  However, as a preacher of the gospel it is my responsibility to be dedicated to making the message the most understandable and faithful to the intentions of the Lord.  Maybe, sometimes we need to floor it, but I think a steady pace is far more effective and you’ll go through way less motors. 

So, preacher, slow down and build up to that which has you “so worked up”.  Let the congregation go through the same journey that you went through so that the truth will “work them up” too.  

Here I am finishing my notes for Sunday night's sermon. The wonder of Daniel in this chapter is not merely that his enemies can only resort to using Daniel's faithfulness as a tool to trap him. An added wonder is that the King has hope for Daniel because he knows that Daniel is a man of God.

The king tosses Daniel into the lion's den saying, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you" (Daniel 6:16). The next morning the king returns to the den with a faint hope,"Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" (Daniel 6:20).

Do our lost friends/co-workers have some kind of hope solid enough to consider it even a slim possibility that our God will carry us through the trials of life? Do they express the wish that Jesus will make a difference on our behalf because they know from experience that we serve Him continually, faithfully, and lovingly?

Or when we face the trials of life will our friends/co-workers offer the well-intentioned platitudes that "time heals all wounds" and "I'm thinking of you" but nothing else because they have no idea we know Jesus, much less serve Him?"

May the testimony of the lost world around us be such that they count on Jesus to carry us through the storms of life.

1. John Newton
2. Robert Murray McCheyne
3. Charles Spurgeon
4. Richard Sibbes
5. Jeremiah Burroughs
6. Athanasius
7. Jonathan Edwards
8. Martin Luther
9. C.S. Lewis
10. John Bunyan

Almost making the cut: Augustine, Alexander Whyte, Horatious Bonar, Martin Lloyd-Jones, Samuel Rutherford, Irenaeus, John Owen. 

My rationale:

John Newton is amazing and really gets grace.  McCheyne intrigues me.  Spurgeon is, well Spurgeon.  Sibbes would teach me grace.  Burroughs has an amazing name and would teach me about joy in Jesus.  Athanasius I’ve always wanted to know more.  Why is Edwards only #7?  Because he was a brilliant man, really loved Jesus, but I do not think would actually be a very good mentor.  Martin Luther is #8 because he’d scare me and probably get me drunk.  C.S. Lewis would teach me how to write and think.  And John Bunyan would be like reading the Bible.  And Apollo Creed did not make the list because he is not dead. 

Who would be your top 10?  Mine will probably change in a few years.