A Fallacy in Men's Evangelism and Discipleship

 The following article “The Gospel Driven Life” was written in 2008 by Dr. Harry
Reeder, Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church.

In 1 Corinthians 2:2, the apostle Paul said, “For I resolve to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

The Gospel message brings you to Christ as the sure foundation for eternal life. The Gospel message provides direction for the formation of your new life. The Gospel message provides the primary motivation for a maturing life. The importance of living a Gospel-driven life is why Paul reminded the Corinthian church that when he was “with them” he was determined to maintain their focus upon the Gospel, by preaching “Christ and Him crucified.” Adding emphasis, he declared, “I did not come to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (see 1 Cor. 1:17). He was not demeaning baptism, but rather underscoring that the Gospel is essential to evangelism and disciple-making.

Early in my Christian life, I thought the Gospel was the message to win people to Christ, then, in disciple-making, one moved on to “deeper things.” What a fallacy! You never move beyond the Gospel. You go deeper and higher with the Gospel, but never beyond the Gospel. The Gospel is what defines how to be a Christian man…The Gospel brings the reign of Christ’s kingdom to our hearts and throughout the world. The Gospel blessings give joy to the Christian life and the ability to rejoice even in suffering. The Gospel imperatives direct our new desire to lovingly obey our Lord. The Gospel provides the foundation, the formation, and the motivation as it ignites our loving obedience to Christ as we discover the transforming truth that “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19)

Martin Luther said, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.”

When we think we have mastered the Gospel, we have only just begun in the faith or really do not understand it. It is not a sign of spiritual maturity but immaturity when we think we know the Gospel so well that we need to move beyond it into things that are practical, pragmatic and more relevant – like tips and techniques to be a better man, husband, father, friend, worker etc. However, everything in theology is centered on the Gospel of Grace. Any theology, any church, or any ministry to men simply crumbles like a house of cards if we remove the Gospel and its centrality and sufficiency from our daily considerations, especially during the times when we preach or teach the Word of God.

The world despises the Gospel in its simplicity and disdains the vessels entrusted to carry and proclaim it. But there is power under the hood. Live the Gospel, believe and preach the whole Gospel — the Gospel blessings that declare who you are in Christ, the Gospel imperatives that call you to your new life for Christ. This Gospel transforms the hearts, minds, and wills of sinners. Thankfully, it continues to transform mine. Preach it to yourself, to each other, and to the lost, and know the joys of the Gospel-driven life.

 

Our Only Joy and Hope

 Blessed Easter!

I’m reminded this beautiful Easter day that it comes when new life is bursting forth all around us after a long, cold winter.

And yet we see that the world is a good thing gone bad in so many ways - ultimately in death. So much is not the way it’s supposed to be.

The Bible gives us genuine hope for each day and beyond that there’s something better that awaits anyone who trusts Christ. It’s never too late to repent of all our false allegiances and believe in Jesus Christ alone - who he is and what he has done for us.

Easter is a celebration of historic facts that God - the creator and upholder of all things - so loved  the world that he gave (gifted) his only Son, that whoever (anyone) believes (trusts) in Jesus should not perish but have eternal life with him.

I thought you might be interested in this short video below by Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Cleveland’s Parkside Church, called, “The Man on the Middle Cross Said I Can Come”

https://youtu.be/xk9wgJBoEd8

The Father planned it,

The prophets foretold it,

The disciples doubted it,

The soldiers denied it,

The empty tomb proved it,

The angels proclaimed it,

 JESUS IS RISEN! 

 by Dave Brown, Pastor and Director, Washington Area Coalition of Men's Ministries (WACMM)

Twelve Unique Attributes of Christianity

1.     Christianity offers a contentment and joy not based on changing circumstances. Our bad things will turn out for good (Rom 8:28) our good things can't be taken from us (Eph 1:3) and the best things are yet to come (1 Jn 3:1-3).

2.     Christianity uniquely offers a non-performative identity--not constantly ebbing and flowing based on your accomplishment and conduct. (Phil 3:4-9; 1 Cor 4:3-4)

3.     Christianity offers a basis for morality and justice that avoids the twin dangers of relativism and oppression. (I freely admit that many Christians use secular moral foundations and themselves veer toward relativism or oppression).

4.     Christianity offers a kind of freedom (embracing the right restrictions) that, unlike the secular definition (the absence of restrictions), does not undermine love relationships.

5.     Christianity offers a unique hope for the world--not eventual nothingness (secularism) and not even mere spiritual paradise (other religions). It promises a renewed, perfect physical world--a new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

6.     Christianity offers a resolution to guilt, shame, and self-laceration that avoids both minimizing your own failures and allowing other people to ultimately define you.

7.     Christianity offers a unique view of power. The incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus shows us power both voluntarily relinquished and yet deployed for service to others.

8.     Christianity offers a meaning and purpose in life that suffering not only cannot take away from you, but can only enhance. It can enable you to face death without any fear.

9.     Christianity offers a unique account of morality/truth. Not subjectivism grounded in culture or evolution (secularism) nor objectivism grounded in an impersonal transcendent norm (Greek-Roman; idealism). Rather it is grounded in an absolute Person--Jesus. See L.Ferry, H.Bavinck.

10.  Christianity offers a unique view of salvation. We are saved by sheer grace and Christ's work not ours. We cannot contribute to salvation with moral effort, religious observance, prayers, transformed consciousness, etc. A finished salvation is received, not achieved.

11.  Christianity offers a unique approach to repairing relationships. It neither privileges the forgiven (so that justice is not done) nor privileges the forgiver (so forgiveness is withheld). Without both we can't maintain human social relationships. (Writing a book on this now.)

12.  Christianity offers a unique view of uniqueness. The claim of uniqueness plays into the human need to feel superior. But Christianity's difference is the grace-claim: saved Christians are NOT better than anyone. That particular uniqueness can subvert the dangers of claiming it.

by Tim Keller

 

Joint Statement About the War Against Ukraine by Seminaries Around the World

The Christian Church has been instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Created by the Word of God and directed by the Holy Spirit, the Church confesses one Lord and Savior Jesus, His gospel and law. Therefore, as part of the Church and under the Lordship of Christ, we are called to speak the truth and expose deceit (Eph 4:15; 4:25).

In the light of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine, we consider it necessary to strongly condemn the open and unjustified aggression aimed at destroying the statehood and independence of Ukraine and based on blatant lies from the lips of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the country's top leadership.

We reject Putin's mythical narrative, which has nothing to do with historical reality, about the alleged artificial creation of the Ukrainian state.

We condemn Putin's cynical lies about Ukraine's alleged genocide of the people in the east of the country, lies that Putin uses to satisfy his own geopolitical ambitions, which are clearly contrary to God's revelation (Deut. 27:17; Prov. 22:28).

We confess the real and unlimited power of God over all countries and continents (Ps 24:1), as well as over all kings and rulers (Prov 21:1), therefore, nothing in all creation can interfere with the fulfillment of the good and perfect will of God. We, together with the first Christians, affirm “Jesus is Lord,” and not Caesar.

We express solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We share the pain of those who have already lost their loved ones. We pray that all of the aggressor's plans would be thwarted and put to shame. We call on all people of good will around the world to resist the lies and hatred of the aggressor. We call on everyone to petition for a cessation of hostilities and to exert every possible influence on the Russian Federation in order to stop the unmotivated aggression toward Ukraine. We ask you to pray for peace for the people of Ukraine and for courage and wisdom for Christian churches so that they continue to serve those in need.

We pray for our authorities and put our hope in the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is, and remains, our refuge and our fortress, even in time of war (Ps 46).

Signed:

Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine

Baltic Reformed Theological Seminary (Riga, Latvia)

Evening Reformed Seminary (Almaty, Kazakhstan)

Kyiv Theological Seminary

Odessa Theological Seminary

Poltava Theological Seminary

Reformed Theological Seminary of Donetsk (temporarily located in Kyiv)

Reformed Theological Seminary Heidelberg, (Germany)

Seminary in Western Russia (we withhold the name of the seminary)

Seminary in Western Siberia, Russia (we withhold the name of the seminary)

Taurian Christian Institute (Kherson)

 

The War in the Ukraine: Praying, Hurting, Longing

The following prayer offered by Scott Smith, founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin TN, is laced with grief and lament, sobriety about the reality of evil, and fervent trust in God's presence and promises for his persecuted in Ukraine and around the world.

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them… They will neither harm nor destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isa. 1

 Lord Jesus, our hearts break, our anger is growing, our fears are real. The evil we are witnessing in the Ukraine fuels our longing for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision. How long, O Lord? Have mercy, King Jesus. We pray for the church, children, and citizens of the Ukraine. We pray for the growing masses of Russian citizens protesting this horror. 

Jesus, hasten the Day when all enmity, strife, and violence will be gone forever—no more wars or even rumors of war. All selfishness, racism, tribalism, or trafficking have an expiration date. As you have promised, “They will neither harm nor destroy anywhere…” Your entire every-nation Bride will love one another as you love us, Jesus. Hallelujah, what a glorious, guaranteed hope. 

Hurry the Day when God’s glory will cover the earth like saltwater covers the oceans of the world—the Day when knowing the Lord won’t be something we do, but who we are. The Day when we will finally and fully love and worship you with everything we have and are. 

Until then, keep us groaning and growing in grace, Lord Jesus. Grant us quick repentances, softer hearts, and a passion for local reconciliation and global mission. May the world recognize us as your disciples by the way we love one another. You have come, and you’re coming again, Jesus. How long, O Lord? So Very Amen.

Scotty Smith, founding pastor
Christ Community Church
Franklin TN