Cross of Christ

Critiquing the Missional Movement

Tony Reinke 2007 SGM LC, Audio, Church methodology, Community, contending, Contextualizing, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Culture, D.A. Carson, Discernment, Ed Stetzer, Evangelism, Gospel in Culture, John Bunyan, Mark Driscoll, Missiology, Missions, Pastoral Ministry, Seeker Friendly, Seeker Sensitive, Sovereign Grace Ministries

tsslogo.jpgNow that all the Sovereign Grace Ministries messages are free, I’m slowly feasting message-by-message in a long and delicious buffet of audio. Today I finally arrived at Dave Harvey’s message from the SGM Leadership Conference this Spring (at the time, I was on the other side of the wall listening to Dever speak on his annual reading schedule).

Harvey, the author of the excellent book When Sinners Say I Do: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage (Shepherd’s Press: 2007), is also an expert church planter and apostolic leader within SGF. This Spring in his session “Watch Your Mission: To Be, or Not to Be, ‘Missional,’” he assessed the strengths and weakness of the missional movement. In part, he argues the MM muddies the Cross-centered focus of the Church and misunderstands the apostolic context of the Great Commission.

Here’s the heart of his outline:

1. What are the Strengths of Missional Churches?
A. Missional Churches Have a Commendable Passion for Evangelism.
B. Missional Churches Have a Laudable Commitment to Engaging Culture.
C. Missional Churches Have a Profitable Impulse for Reexamining Church Tradition.
D. They Also Possess an Admirable Devotion to Social Impact.

2. What are the Weaknesses of Missional Churches?
A. Missional Churches Tend to Be Mission-Centered Rather Than Gospel-Centered.
B. Missional Churches Tend to Have a Reductionistic Ecclesiology.
C. Missional Churches Tend to Confuse Culture Engagement with Cultural Immersion.
D. Missional Churches Tend to Downplay the Institutional and Organizational Nature of the Church.
E. Missional Churches Tend to Have an Insufficient Understanding of Apostolic Ministry.

Free: Get the full outline here and the mp3 audio here.

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Update: It should be noted SGM believes in a continuing apostolic gift: “present-day apostles plant and build local churches for the sanctification of the believer, the expansion of the mission, and the exaltation of God.” For more on why they use the term, what it means and does not mean, see the SGM booklet by Harvey titled Polity: Serving and Leading the Local Church (2004), pages 17-26, 49-50.

Deeper into the Glories of Calvary

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Legalism, Legalist, What is sin

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At the conclusion of Sunday celebration – after a sermon on 1 Timothy 1:15-17 — pastor Rick Gamache pondered the question: How does God take us deeper into the glories of the Cross?

In this text, Paul acknowledges himself the worst sinner he knows (v. 15). And God, he exclaimed, is glorious in holiness and majesty (v. 17).

It’s here, between a deepening understanding of personal sin – that I am the worst sinner I know – and a growing understanding of God’s holiness, that we grow deeper into the glories of Calvary. When we grow up into God’s holiness, and grow down in properly understanding the depth of our personal sin, we better see the wrath of God that was appeased in the Cross, the emptiness of our self-righteousness and the magnitude of the glorious, reconciling Cross!

A great image of the Cross-centered life!

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:14-19)

The sermon, titled “A Functional Doctrine of Sin,” is perhaps the best message on sin I have heard. Amazing! (Listen here).


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Related: The song “The Glories of Calvary” was written by Steve & Vikki Cook and available for a paltry buck.

The Cross and Entertainment

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Entertainment

tsslogo.jpg“… In our entertainment-saturated culture we find another kind of gospel, however — the gospel of avoidance. And this gospel is about putting our faith in distractions. We use entertainment to save ourselves from the pain of our lives. Unlike the real gospel, though, the ‘good news’ of entertainment doesn’t truly save us from our problems. It only masks them, helps us repress them. Keeps us from becoming the men God created us to be.

Rather than going to the cross, many of us take our wounds to our computers, TVs or game consoles and say, ‘Here, you take them.’ And all these technologies oblige … for a time. At some point, though, we have to press the off button, go to class and face the challenges of the world outside our entertainment bubble. What do we do then? Distract ourselves to such a degree that we haven’t got the time to ponder what’s really going on in our lives?

That’s the gospel of avoidance. And for too many of us, it’s our only saving grace. …”

– Matthew John, Entertainment: The Gospel of Avoidance

Four shots for the soul …

Tony Reinke Affections, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Martin Luther

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This great quote on the Cross-centered life was brewed by our friends at the Of First Importance blog.
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“Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not.’” – Martin Luther

Well Done! – Encouraging Grace

Tony Reinke C.J. Mahaney, Children, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Encouraging, Humble orthodoxy, Humility, Parenting

tss-well-done.jpgOh, how I need to hear this continually! From Mark Lauterbach at the Gospel Driven Life blog:

It takes no advanced degree to find fault with another man — or to show the stupidity of someone else’s thinking. It takes much grace to see God at work in a fellow redeemed sinner whose life is marred by sin and marked by grace. It takes grace to see it and strengthen it. It takes grace to encourage them in a way that glorifies God and strengthens faith…

My children tell me I am very hard to please.  I do not think I am — I think I have very good standards and they need to measure up.  I wake up in the morning and the first thing I see is what has not been done.  I see faults all over.  I am God’s agent to make them excellent.

A few years ago a friend saw my sin and encouraged me to spend a whole summer doing nothing but encouraging my children.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  Every day I would look for grace in them but find faults.  I had to bite my tongue all the time.  But the fruit on their lives and our relationship was amazing.

So — as I lead my family, do they hear my criticism more than my commendation?  Do I see myself as the great and indispensable fault-finder?  As I relate to fellow-Christians, am I more aware of their sin or of their growth in sanctification?

I am learning this most crucial element of fellowship — and seeing it as the first step.  Until I see grace in others I am in no position to help them grow by pointing out their sin.

I say: Well done, Mark. Thank you for this reminder!

On this topic Mark also recommends C.J. Mahaney’s message: Grace and the Adventure of Leadership. How would you respond to the incestuous, sin saturated Corinthians? Be humbled by this message. Another excellent (and now free) audio message from Sovereign Grace Ministries.

Sovereign Grace Ministries audio now free

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, David Powlison, Parenting, Sovereign Grace Ministries

Sovereign Grace Ministries has opened the floodgate to offer all their mp3 message for free! This is a great resource, but let me point you specifically to a few messages:

These are some of the best audio resources on the web. And now free!