Making Christ-Centered Disciples

I asked my cell family last night what they thought as they heard the Ephesians 5 commands to husbands and wives. Here is the response from one of the members:
"Christ surely died for the church as I would for my wife. Sometimes it is a lot harder to live for my wife than to die for her. Christ did so much for us with his life as he did with his death. In my opinion.what he didnt do was lie, cheat, hide from or abuse the church. I haven't read a thing he did for himself. At age 12 he sought his father's will. Loving my wife as he did the church is a tall order. I can love her more than just dying for her; I will love her with my life and honor our God. I will try to love my wife as Christ loves the church."
I think they are getting it!

That is so honest to admit that sometimes it is easier to die for someone that to live for them. Interesting stuff!

Satire in the Church

In their drama at our Worship Celebration last Sunday, Mike and Tammy Bracken introduced us to the folly of our marriage relationships using satire. The definition of satire is "a literary work in which vices, follies, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt." In other words, like with any figurative language, a person who saw that drama should not take any particular thing done or said too serious except the overall theme that we are really dumb in the ways that we handle our interpersonal relationships in marriage.

In Tammy's script we have no problem seeing the satire in Mike saying that she had never been in the kitchen in seven years (I am sure that she snuck in there a little), or that he had NO idea what a submissive wife looked like. But when the satire turned to 'running to a beer cooler' or 'where to stick a thermometer,' we want to jump back into the literal world and think that maybe they should not have said that. The WHOLE thing was satire and so no one should think that Mike and Tammy or The Bridge support drinking beer in excess or using thermometers as weapons in a marital dispute. NOTHING in that skit was meant to be taken seriously because it was ALL satire. The question is, "Were we irreverent?"

In the midst of creative fun that has a point, we have to be very careful not to disrespect God. God is to be revered; He is to be 'set apart.' We are to be "Holy as He is Holy." The Bridge will never take lightly how serious God is about His Kingdom. The question is, "Did the satire cross the line into disrespect?" If so, we humbly apologize. That was never the intent.

The use of figurative language is always a little dicey. Jesus used it a lot. I cannot tell you how many bad sermons I have heard trying to explain the "camel through the eye of that needle" because the preacher did not understand Jesus' use of figurative language. He directly meant through his hyperbole (exaggeration) that it is impossible for a rich man to set aside his wealth and give a full commitment to Christ to get into heaven. However, at the same time, he shows that it is hugely possible for the rich man to get into heaven because with God all things are possible. These preachers who over exegete that text are really struggling with Jesus use of figurative language. Ken Davis goes so far as to think that the disciples roared with laughter because they understood his hyperbole and his point and probably thought the image of that camel was very funny.
One could make an argument that satire has no place in the church because a "little one" might not get the figurative language and think that The Bridge supports drinking, etc. They just don't understand the satire. That could be a valid argument, but where does that stop? Do the drums whose beat create "sexual passions" come out next? Some think so.

IT Thoughts on Biblical Submission

Five Biblical Principles Concerning Wife's Submission from The Excellent Wife by Marcia Peace

1. A wife is to be submissive to her husband in all things unless her husband asks her to sin.
2. A submissive wife is not afraid to do the "right thing."
3. A wife is to be submissive even if her husband is not a Christian. Editor's note: See #1.
4. A submissive wife does not dishonor the Word of God.
5. A wise wife will seek training and counsel on submission from a godly older woman.

Examples of #1 (must respectfully disobey due to asking wife to sin):
"I forbid you to go to church."
"I forbid you to talk to the children about God."
"I want you to participate in immorality / pornography."
"I forbid you to reprove me."
"Do not tell anyone about my sin. I want you to lie for me."

Comments on #3 as promised:
"When a Christian woman is married to an unbeliever, her responsibility is to live a godly life and respond to her husband with respect. Her attitude should be one of being for him and not against him."
"Sometimes, a wife with an unsaved husband is miserable and frustrated because she may have an idolatrous view of what she thinks her marriage should be like. she might say to herself, 'I'll never be happy unless he becomes a Christian.' Her frustration may be the result of not getting what she wants. Instead of being frustrated, her heart's devotion should turn from her idol of wanting a Christian marriage to devotion of the Lord Jesus Christ in worshipping and serving Him. He alone knows if, when, and how her husband will become a Christian."

Tim's Comments: I usually counsel that there is relatively little chance that an unbelieving husband will call on the Lord by his wife bashing him or trying to coerce him into becoming a follower. However, she can play a huge role in leading him to the Lord by allowing her transformed godliness love him and nurture him well. We must remember that love includes loving Biblical rebukes, but smashing the husband's face with a Bible only makes him bleed while his soul is in danger. The wife should graciously prioritize her schedule to go places with him and his friends. However, she should always draw the line at participating in any personal sin. Even this should be done with respect. The Bible is clear that our love to our unbelieving spouse is a key to them possibly repenting and believing the Gospel. Obviously, basically these same principles are true for a husband that has unbelieving wife.

Maybe later this week, we will provide some tough teaching for the husband from The Complete Husband.

Christ Centered

The Reveal study was all about trying to figure out what creates Christ centered people. I think the #1 flaw around the American church is that after conversion, most churches teach and believe that it takes a long time for someone to become Christ centered. This may be a matter of semantics because , at The Bridge, we define a Christ centered person as someone who has placed their full faith and trust in Christ or is WILLING to do whatever Christ asks of him/her. They have truly repented (turned from their wicked, selfish ways and are seeking God with all they have). This person may not know where to find the book of John in the Bible yet, but when they find it, they will be obedient to God's teaching. The Christ centered person may fail a lot, not know everything, and may not be ready to teach, but are failing less, are teachable, and willing to mature quickly toward high levels of service.

The Bible does not allow for two calls on our life -- one for salvation, and then a later call to be a Christ follower (which I see as synonymous with Christ centered). There is one call -- to repent and believe the Gospel and to drop our nets of self-centeredness and follow Him. Then, the repentant, teachable man or woman sets out on becoming more like Christ day after day -- open to God's incredible transforming Spirit and working very hard on their own to study, learn, and serve. Admirers of Christ do not mature because they have not yet been cut to the heart. Followers of Christ (disciples) mature because they are working on Christ's agenda and not their own.

Willow Creek Plans

Okay! I am officially a little nervous about speaking at Reveal. My section is a part of a 45 minute interview format that two other pastors (one from Pennsylvania and one from New Jersey) and I will speaking about how we grow Christ-centered disciples by going out and BEING the church instead of people coming to church. In other words, we give the church leadership away as every member becomes both a minister (a priest) and a missionary. I am the middle section of the interview and mine is the longest (these folks cannot believe how our cell families function as small churches). Mine being the longest is not necessarily good because we do not have any notes with us, and I am getting old and cannot remember long sequences of thought anymore. I am excited though because I get to mention the magnificent Gospel of Jesus Christ to thousands of people. Surely I won't mess that up! They get a kick out the fact that we have twice as many people come to church as live the little town that our church sits in. We are the only portable church that was selected also -- the only church dumping beer and cleaning just so we can have church.

It has been fabulous interacting with the tremendous staff at Willow Creek and these other 12 pastors are unbelievable. What creativity -- what passion for God and His Word. I have learned a lot from just all the preparations to go. All of the churches have had to work as a team -- what a novel idea -- the church functioning as a team. I do hope that I remember that one crucial thought that I have had is that I have noticed recently different cell families working well with each other to accomplish taking care of people in need. If you understand how our church functions, that is like different churches coming together to help someone. That is a model for what Christ wants to see in ALL churches. This territorial crap has to stop.

Our team that will be attending is up to 8 as Milford and Nancy Gibbs have decided to join us on the trip. They will join pastors Steve Tousseau of Community Covenant and Kendall Hughes of First Church of God in Leadwood (both of them serve on our oversight team), Kim Massey, teaching pastor Ben Durbin, and of course Kelley.
If you would like to pray for me, I will speaking at 11:00 on Wednesday in the Big Auditorium at WC. I sure would appreciate it because this is quite an honor, and I am not sure if this washed-up ball coach is up to the task. What is really exciting is that I get to talk about the fine folks of The Bridge and the great job they are doing at following King Jesus. That is what people want to hear about.

The picture above is at Catalyst today. It shows our fine young leadership on the couches of the front row getting ready to worship with Steve Fee and hear from Andy Stanley, Steven Furtick, and Craig Groecshel. Good stuff!

Thoughts on a Friday Morning

Sorry that I have not blogged in a few days, but I have been rewriting all of the church documents and getting them approved by the our Board of Elders, rewriting all of our membership classes, and writing our Board of Elder and Pastor Ordination interview questions. That may not sound like a lot of fun to you, but I have really enjoyed it as it has afforded a lot of time in the Bible (since we can do nothing that does not have Biblical warrant), and a lot of time thinking about the best ways to help our people to Believe IT, Grow IT, Send IT. I recommend to all of you church leaders out there to periodically look at your documents, your trainings, your vision statements and see if they are current with what God wants you focused on. We have changed our website, so you can easily see a lot of the updates at www.bridgelife360.com.

Ben and I have been wrestling with something for quite a while now. We know that to truly help change our community, to truly be salt and light, to truly wipe out some of the pressing issues, we need a strong working relationships with other churches. We have that with 3 or 4, but there are 118 in the county. We want to partner with them, but we don't think that they have a high view of us. We need for you to pray that the hearts of the pastors and leadership will have their heart softened toward working together to really impact St. Francois County for Christ.

We know that we are brash and bold with our vision, but that does not mean that we have not approached our assigned task without humility. The Apostle Paul was successful in spreading the Gospel because he was powerful in the Holy Spirit while he was personally humble. I am asking the Lord to make sure that we have that combination right because our church can only make a dent in the serious problems of our community, but many churches together can win the county for Christ. That is all we want to see happen.

We had a tremendous cell family meeting last night. There were lots of laughs and lots of Bible moments. There is nothing like authentic community. So authentic that I got flipped off by a church member last night. Wow!