“Gospel-Centered” Pitfalls Part 2- Everything is Justification…

This is the 2nd post in a series called “Gospel-Centered Pitfalls”. You can read the intro and Part 1- Defining Gospel Centrality before heading into this one.

One of the first dangers I see possible for the “Gospel-centered” movement is an unhealthy emphasis on “justification.” Hold on with the pitchforks and torches, my theology of justification is fairly traditional. I think Luther was right in his context to say that “justification is the issue on which the church rises or falls.” I think justification is a wonderful part of the Gospel, even one of the central New Testament metaphors for describing how the death and resurrection of Jesus conquer the sin and death problem and bring us back into God’s family.

There’s a danger, though. I’ve noticed that some talk about Gospel-centrality almost purely in terms of justification. Every issue of our Christian life, every temptation we face or trial we endure, every conflict with another human being is a justification issue. Every sin is an issue of self-justification. The central problem of every story of Scripture is whether the person knows that they are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. Part of this is simply that because the topic of justification was at the heartbeat of the Protestant Reformation and we are its descendants. Another reason is the perceived (and sometimes real) attack on Justification from the New Perspective on Paul, especially the work of NT Wright in recent years. Also, the Lutheran hermeneutic of dividing all scripture into categories of Law and Gospel makes every text a justification text. Add to that the late Lutheran theologian Gerhard Forde’s work on making other categories like sanctification essentially subsets of justification, a good example of which can be found in Christian Spirituality: 5 Views of Sanctification.

The issue here is not that the topic of  justification doesn’t pop up in places besides Romans and Galatians. It shows up in Luke’s Gospel, Job, and other places. But it’s not the only thing that pops up there. In fact, let’s revisit my statement about justification being “one of the central New Testament metaphors for describing how the death and resurrection of Jesus conquer the sin and death problem and bring us back into God’s family.” Even in describing justification, note how other Biblical metaphors showed up: victory, adoption. In fact, no less than J.I. Packer in Knowing God said that he would define the New Testament message about Jesus as “adoption through propitiation.” No mention of justification there.

Once again, it’s not that justification isn’t a major teaching of the New Testament. It’s not that it has relevance only to our entry into Christianity but not to our ongoing Christian life. That’s one of the key points of Galatians, that we don’t start something new after our Christianity. And Romans, the other major treatment of justification, is a letter sent to Christians, and there Paul rehearses justification to exhort the house churches in Rome to “accept one another in the Lord” since there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.

But note that justification isn’t the only metaphor Paul uses, even in Romans. Paul is willing to use any facet of the Gospel story to empower his readers to follow Jesus. Just in that letter, he talks about  the Gospel in terms like mortification/resurrection, adoption, acceptance, unification of Jew/Gentile into one people, peacemaking.

Understanding justification is a key part of Gospel-centrality, but not the only part. Don’t withhold from yourself and those you disciple the vast richness of Gospel facets we find in Scripture. Yes, one person you meet may need to hear that she doesn’t have to prove herself to God and can rest assured in her justified status before him, but another may need to hear that they are adopted as God’s children as they face a difficult family past. Another may need to hear that the Gospel declares they have died to sin in Christ and no longer have to be enslaved to a particular habit. Someone might need to know the Gospel truth that Christ has broken down the dividing wall between ethnicities in his death and we can love those different from us.  And there are so many more that could be used! 

Avoid the pitfall of reducing the Gospel to “justification” only. It is not less, but it is so much more.

(A helpful book that deals with showing multi-faceted Gospel applications from a variety of Scriptures is A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love by Milton Vincent.)

“Gospel-Centered” Pitfalls Part 1-Defining Gospel-Centrality

We’ll get to the J-word next post. But I didn’t feel I could rightly discuss potential hazards and missteps of “Gospel centrality” without first laying a basic grid for what I mean by the term. After all, without knowing the destination, it’s hard to know whether course corrections are needed.

The idea of being Gospel-centered is scriptural. Essentially, it means that the joyful announcement that God has entered human history in the person of Jesus Christ to fulfill his promises, redeem his people, conquer sin and evil and death, and restore and re-create this world is not just the start but the whole of the Christian life. All of our fundamental human needs are addressed in the Gospel.  Everything we need to know Jesus and become more like him is addressed in the Gospel. We don’t ever move on. And here are some Scriptures where I see this:

Paul tells us in Colossians 2, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Note the connection between the manner of our initial receiving Christ and the way we continue to live.

1 Corinthians 15- “”Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” We received the Gospel and have taken our stand (baptism?)- Note the past tense. We also are saved (present tense- literally “you are being saved”). We don’t let go of the Gospel after becoming Christians like a torn movie stub after we enter the theater. 1 Corinthians 15, in fact, Paul goes on to remind them of the Gospel in order to address present shortcomings in their lifestyles. (And of course, he’s already done that throughout the letter as he deals with each topic under discussion.)

James 2- “”My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” James? Who knew there was Gospel-centrality in James? But James often argues from the Gospel to ground his commands. Here, he’s claiming there is something inherent in the Gospel of Jesus that doesn’t allow us to show favoritism. And 2:1 isn’t the only place he argues in this way.

Hebrews. No proof texts here, but the entire book is a summons to continue faith in Jesus alone for salvation. It assumes that professing believer can drift away from the faith (2:1) and that faith is the only way to please God (11:1). Hebrews reminds us that our faith in the Gospel of Jesus isn’t a 1-time checked box that we can move on from, but that we persevere in faith because the Gospel tells us that Jesus is our faithful priest and sacrifice who has opened the throne room of God to us.

(And don’t quote Hebrews to me about moving on from the Gospel to “deeper things”, since the stuff the author wants to move on to is a fuller exposition of the Gospel in light of the Old Testament sacrificial systems.)

Revelation 12- “”They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Much like Hebrews, in Revelation it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that enables believers to continue through persecution and suffering. The conquering Lion is the sacrificial Lamb who was slain. “The word of their testimony” likely refers to their repeated witnessing to the Gospel of the crucified and Risen Christ, not to their own personal conversion stories.

We don’t have time to go into every place where this type of exhortation rooted in the Gospel narrative occurs. I deliberately only used Paul twice lest I be accused of importing Paul’s style on the rest of the New Testament (hmmm…wonder if that will show up later?). But above you have a basic grid for why I believe that the Gospel narrative of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus isn’t just an introduction to Christianity, but the mould into which our Christian lives should be shaped. It addresses all of our fundamental needs and is the only thing that will enable us to persevere in faith.

 So next time we’ll discuss the first pitfall of Gospel-Centrality, namely dealing with the J-word. Justification.

New Series- “Gospel-Centered” Pitfalls

I’ll be starting a new series this week revolving around the whole topic of “Gospel centrality.” The phrase “Gospel-centered” (or -driven or -powered) has sort of blown up over the last few years, apparently 1/2 of new Christian books are required to have some form of it in the title. (Your Best Gospel-Centered Life Now!)

I happen to think the basic principles of Gospel-centrality are good and sound, even (and sometimes more so) when such terminology isn’t used. One of the better books I’ve read in the last few months, “Spirituality according to Paul: Imitating the Apostle of Christ” by my former new Testament professor Dr. Rodney Reeves, would be an example of what I consider a “Gospel-centered” work, though you wouldn’t find the term there. And like another recent Christian buzzword “missional”, “Gospel-centered” has become its own animal, where people have pumped a variety of different meanings into the terminology, as well as the usual 2nd-generation folly of misapplying the original intent of crafting such terms.

In the next few posts, we’ll examine several “Gospel-centered Pitfalls”, ways in which such terminology could go (or has gone) awry.

The first post discusses the “J” word.

Wide shoes and discipleship.

I have wide feet. I know that’s not much of a confession, but it’s true. One of the negative aspects of playing sports at a private Christian high school was scrounging through my dad’s closet twice a week for dress shoes and ties on game days. And my dad would often get upset because though our numeric shoe size was the same, I would stretch out his shoes whenever I borrowed them. The hardships of wide feet. And of course, having a very common shoe size to start with, my usual trips to buy shoes when the old ones have disintegrated failed me again, as the limited number of tennis shoes on clearance in my size usually didn’t include that beautiful “W” next to the size number on the label.

A few months ago for my birthday, though, I scored some shoes that were not only in my price range, but were also made for the broad-footed. I could feel my toes stretching out to a comfortable level, my foot filling the shoe in a perfect embrace. I didn’t think I could ever go back to those thin shoes again.

But of course, I did. My other shoes were still the normal size. And now I had years of bad foot training in that crammed space. My toes didn’t want to stretch out to a comfortable length, walking was awkward as I felt I had an extra half a shoe on the side of my feet, and I noticed the awkard tilt my feet had acquired when I walked. I actually had to think about how I walked and the comfort and joy of those new shoes had all but vanished.

As disciples of Jesus, we often struggle to fill the new identity we have been given as the adopted heirs of God, accepted before him, lavished with love and grace, freed from sin and self.  Like the new shoes, we struggle to find our fit in this new family, this new awkward body of Christ we have been born into. The first initial moments of joy at our newfound peace with God and entrance into his kingdom are soon overcome with the awkward feeling as we naturally walk with a tilt towards sin and years of habitual selfishness and idolatrous patterns built into our muscle memory.

But of course, I haven’t gotten rid of my new shoes. I’ve worn them more often, began to walk correctly, began to rehabilitate my feet to the space. And neither do we quit as followers of Christ to “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children  and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ” (Ephesians 5:1-2) Learning after Christ is filled with missteps, relapses into our old selfish patterns. Just look at what we read about the original 12 disciples in the Gospels or the early churches in the letters. But don’t give up. Have patience with others who are trying on new shoes that you’ve grown accustomed to wearing years ago.

The end for Church Planting in NYC?

Today, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a case regarding whether churches could use New York City public school facilities for “worship activities” during times when the school buildings were not in use. For many church plants in NYC, where gathering space is hard to come by, as well as countless new church plants meeting in school gyms, cafeterias, etc. around the US, this was seen as a major blow to the ability of these churches to gather. Already in NYC it is common to find small church buildings with 4, 5, 6 different congregations meeting on a Sunday, as the English-speaking church finishes, the Korean-speaking church is waiting at the doors, and the Spanish-speaking church is on deck in 2 hours. The Sunday queue may be a little more packed in the coming months, as church plants still meeting in NYC schools (they were allowed to keep meeting during the appeals process) will have to find new homes effective January 1.

Now of course, I do not think this is the end for church planting in New York City. And here are a few reasons why:

First, many planters are not utilizing “big spaces” for their churches, focusing on small church groups that can meet in living rooms or office spaces, etc. (That’s what we plan on doing in the Bangladeshi neighborhoods of NYC.) I think a Gospel movement in NYC will have to look different than the brick-and-mortar church structures found in other areas of the US.

Second, church planters are nothing if not creative. I remember hearing Rick Warren talk once about Saddleback’s early days when they were in different facilities on regular basis, but how that chaos and confusion led them to develop good community as they had to keep in touch regularly as a church body just to know where they were meeting. Other church plants in the US already deal with space issues like having to rotate every month or two between schools as meeting places.

Third, this situation has huge missional opportunities in neighborhoods across the city. Not only will churches find other spaces to worship, but perhaps they can display the love of Christ by continuing to serve the local schools where they can no longer meet. What would look more like Jesus than churches serving and saying, “You (the schools) don’t exist to take care of us. We are Christ’s body that exists to care for you.”

Fourth, as I mentioned before, some church space is already being utilized by multiple congregations, but more can be shared. Perhaps this will lead some existing churches to also be generous with their facilities. Perhaps it will cause some bridges that were burned between older and newer churches to be rebuilt for gospel mission.

Fifth, Jesus will build his church. (Matthew 16). He will. It’s a promise. The word of God is not bound, despite the restrictions and obstacles Christians throughout the centuries have faced. This circumstance is nowhere near the scale of the attempts to purge China of Christianity during the Revolution. And yet, the Church there flourished and found new ways to grow. Could we pray for the same kind of effect in New York City?

So is this the end of church planting in New York City? I don’t think so. What effects do you see as happening from this ban?

Thanksgiving!

Our family has a lot to be thankful for this year:

1) The birth of our daughter Eowyn in April, especially considering our high risk pregnancy (my brave wife taking shots in the stomach every day for 9 months). It’s hard to imagine not having little Eowyn around.

2) Direction! Last year at this time, we were sort of swimming. Our plans of going overseas had been put on hold and were pretty much done because of health reasons, we had a kid on the way, I was working a job I hated with no signs of escape, and it was just a struggle. Now, at least, God has been good to let us struggle in a specific direction- working with Bangladeshis in New York City. There’s still a lot of unknowns as we fundraise and try to get to New York (while trying to keep our heads above water in KC), but having a goal and knowing that God is in it makes the struggles worth it.

Those are just a couple things we as a family are thankful for this year; there are constants items of thanksgiving like the love of Christ, our families, friends, etc., but these are specific to the last year.

Help Send Me to Verge2012

UPDATE: The voting has now officially started! Please take 10 seconds and vote for me HERE.

 

Why should you send me to Verge2012?

1) I really want to go. Verge2012 has put together a great speaker lineup across the board, pulling from various missional, urban, international, etc. categories into one big event. As a church planter focused on a particular city and wanting to work with immigrants, there is a lot I can learn here!

2) Free beats paying. Right now, I’m busy building church partnerships to fund our endeavors in NYC as well as working full time to cover the bills. I might be able to spring some money for the conference (Christmas present?), but I still have to get to Austin, TX from Kansas City, find a place to stay, and eat. And going for free would solve all those problems…

3) The “For the Nations” Post-conference. David Platt, Ying Kai (who co-authored the T4T book we will be heavily using in our NYC work), and many others will be focusing a day specifically on reaching the nations. I’m assuming someone going to New York to work among Bangladeshis could use this!

So there’s a few reasons I want to go. I could tell some sob story or put a picture of my adorable 7 month old daughter on here, but I won’t.

So I guess in order to help me win, you’ll need to vote AT THIS PAGE, for one week only — from Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011 until Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 11:59pm CDT. Every vote counts!

In between the worlds…

Living in between 2 places is tough. I would say it’s filled with daily tension and struggle between competing allegiances, but it’s really not and therein lies the whole problem.

Steph and I are currently living in Kansas City while raising support to move to New York City next year and work with the 60,000 or so Bangladeshis living in the Apple. The move is still (hopefully) months away, and fundraising is its own unique test of faith and patience (future blogging material…). There are decisions to make in the next few months as we will need to reduce some of our ministry responsibilities here in order to prepare for the coming move and the people we are moving to live among.

But the hardest part is simply that it’s easy to live in such a situation because we are creatures of the present. We live in one place, focus on one place, think about one place. I have a full-time job here with tasks to be done, a daughter to play with when I get home, friends and neighbors to hang out with and pray for… And I think there’s a healthiness to all that. As the old saying goes, “Wherever you are, be all there.” We all know the cliche about the youth group going on a mission trip but refusing to talk to the strangers on the plane next to them. Mission doesn’t begin once your passport is stamped or the church van doors close, but is meant to be the shape of our life as followers of Jesus, including our time at work, playing with our kids, and eating dinner with friends.

But the struggle of living between two places is necessary. For us, New York is a reality that we will be smacking into facefirst in the months and years ahead. We don’t believe that we are starting a new work there on April 1 or whatever the date will be. God is already at work, with boots on the ground, and our preparation and work is starting even now, as we pray and fast and advocate and dream for the people God has called us to. And if we aren’t doing those things, then there is no tension. And not praying, fasting, advocating, dreaming are the easiest things in the world to do. If there is any tension, it comes as a response to being faithful both to the place we are in and the direction God has called us. The difficulties only show up deliberately.

Welcome…

We are a family preparing to move to New York City in 2012 for the purpose of making disciples of Jesus Christ among the Bangladeshis who call NYC home. This is our new site for keeping people updated, sharing our stories, and talking about what it means to follow Jesus on mission. More to come ahead…