Hot Topics, Recommendations, Reminders

Gospel Truth Creates a Gospel Culture

May 24, 2013 By Greg Strand

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, Ray Ortlund speaks specifically to the centrality of gospel doctrine, which God the Holy Spirit uses to create a gospel culture, i.e. the functional centrality of the gospel in all of life and ministry: “Gospel Doctrine, Gospel Culture.”

Ortlund writes,

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, as Jesus himself touches us through his truths. Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile. Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless. For example:

The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).

The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).

The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).

The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).

The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).

The doctrine of God creates a culture of honesty (1 John 1:5-10). And what could be more basic than that?

If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts. If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture. But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Churches that do not exude humility, inclusion, peace, life, hope and honesty — even if they have gospel doctrine on paper, they lack that doctrine at a functional level, where it counts in the lives of actual people. Churches that are haughty, exclusivistic, contentious, exhausted, past-oriented and in denial are revealing a gospel deficit.

The current rediscovery of the gospel as doctrine is good, very good. But a completely new discovery of the gospel as culture — the gospel embodied in community — will be infinitely better, filled with a divine power such as we have not yet seen.

Is there any reason not to go there? Is the status quo all that great? Doesn’t the gospel itself call for a new kind of community?

May God create this sort of commitment to the gospel accompanied with this sort of gospel culture such that it will be a sweet aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-17).

Theological Convictions, Tough Question

The Doctrinal Centrality of the Gospel, The Functional Centrality of the Gospel

May 23, 2013 By Greg Strand

The doctrinal centrality of the gospel is foundational to and leads inexorably to the functional centrality of the gospel.

The gospel focuses on the fulfillment of God’s plan for the redemption of His people through the Person of Jesus Christ. The gospel is something done! Full stop. But this is not all there is to say about the gospel. Rooted in what the gospel is, it also has entailments in how we think and live. This is not the gospel, but an entailment of the gospel. If we make it the gospel, then we have created another gospel (cf. Gal. 1:6-9).

It is vital to affirm and rest upon the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ in doctrine and proclamation. But it is also vital to live out the gospel in all of life and ministry. This is the functional centrality of the gospel.

So often people affirm the doctrinal centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but then they press on to other things as if the gospel has no bearing on how we go about ministry thereafter. This undermines and sometimes denies, often not by design but by default, the truth of the gospel.

For example, it was the functional centrality of the gospel in ministry and relationships that Peter compromised when he pulled away from table fellowship with the Gentiles in Galatia. This is why Paul confronted him so strongly (Gal. 2:11-14). Peter’s functional response undermined the doctrinal centrality of the gospel.

It is vital that we affirm both truths, that we get the order right, and that we understand how they relate to one another. If not, we will end up with a dead orthodoxy (denial of its functional centrality), or we will end up with a different gospel (extending the meaning of the gospel to what we need to do).

As you ponder and pray about this, how are you doing?

Hot Topics, Reminders, Theological Convictions

How Society Changes

May 22, 2013 By Greg Strand

Most know, feel and experience the reality of our culture and society changing. But how does it change? How do values and mores shift and change and become embedded in the culture and codified in law/policy?

Recently Joe Carter writes about “How to change a society in 5 easy steps.”  He focuses on the incredible changes that have occurred over the past years, and the fact that they are happening with increasing speed. We are living in a day in which we are experiencing a moral tsunami which does not abate, and, to shift the metaphor, the speed with which the moral dominoes are falling is increasing.

Carter refers to the Overton Window, which was developed by the late Joseph P. Overton in the 1990s. Overton addresses a “‘window’ in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse.” Within this window is a spectrum of responses to a specific issue, and all issues of response will fall somewhere on a continuum. He also argues that responses will change incrementally. As noted by Carter, “All issues fall somewhere along this policy continuum, which can be roughly outlined as: Unthinkable, Radical, Acceptable, Sensible, Popular, Policy. When the window moves or expands, ideas can accordingly become more or less politically acceptable.”

Though Overton’s model addressed changes in the political climate, Carter applies it to the changes occurring in our culture and society. In essence, “if the goal were to undermine cultural institutions, the process for getting from Unthinkable to Policy would be these five easy steps” (I only include the steps):

Step #1: From Unthinkable to Radical
Step #2: From Radical to Acceptable
Step #3: From Acceptable to Sensible
Step #4: From Sensible to Popular
Step #5: From Popular to Policy

Carter applies this to the moral issues of abortion, no-fault divorce and same-sex “marriage.” It would be fitting to many of the other moral issues of the day as well, especially as they intersect with the heart of what people think and how they engage in life and culture. This would often be described not as “taking action” but rather “deliberate inaction.” It is not that Christians don’t have moral scruples. It is just that they remain quiet, silent or inactive in response to the strong culture conformist ethos.

Carter bemoans the fact that:

America has produced an overwhelming number of Christians who are adept at explaining why they can support issues that are antithetical to Christianity and depressingly few who can give reasons why we should adhere to the teachings of scripture and the wisdom of the church.

Once a moral issue has moved from Unthinkable to Policy, is there any possibility of reversing it?

History has shown that dedicated Christians can close the Overton Window and reverse the shift from ‘policy’ to ‘unthinkable’ (look at William Wilberforce). But it requires a people who have courage and conviction and a willingness to be despised for the truth. Do current generations have such virtues? Maybe we don’t. But I’m holding out hope that our grandkids will be born that way.

Undergirding it all, we, as Christians, pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10)!

Hot Topics, Recommendations, Theological Convictions

A Church Statement on Human Sexuality: Homosexuality and Same-Sex “Marriage – A Resource for EFCA Churches

May 21, 2013 By Greg Strand

The EFCA Spiritual Heritage Committee (Bill Jones, Bill Kynes, Ernie Manges, David Martin and Greg Strand) has written a Statement that will be an excellent Resource for our pastors and churches as they think through and write policies on this moral issue of the day. This is how the document begins:

Never have the sexual ethics of our culture been more confused and contorted. The need for a clear voice from the church on these matters is critical, both for the health of our own community and for our faithful witness to the world.

This Statement, drawn from Scripture as our ultimate authority, sets forth a Christian vision of human sexuality as a good gift of God. The divine design for sexual expression within the commitment of marriage between a man and a women is fundamental to the well-ordering of human society and is integral to human flourishing. We desire to articulate this ethic as moral truth binding on us all while recognizing our need of God’s grace and forgiveness in the ways that we all fall short of this divine ideal, specifically as it relates to homosexuality and same-sex “marriage”.

This Statement is not an official policy and therefore has no formal authority in the EFCA. It is written by the Spiritual Heritage Committee, with input from others, as a Resource for local EFC churches. Any authority this Statement would have, in whole or in part, would be determined by the local EFC church.

The complete document can be accessed at our EFCA website.

I would encourage you to use this excellent Statement as a Resource in your ministries. I would also recommend that you promote this document to other pastors, leaders and churches.

Hot Topics, Recommendations

Culture, Media and Morality/Truth

May 20, 2013 By Greg Strand

A couple of weeks ago the major news in the professional sports world was the announcement made in an essay in Sports Illustrated by veteran professional basketball player Jason Collins that he is gay. The response from fellow professional basketball players, the media and even President Obama was that he was a hero. Making this statement, these people claimed, took great courage, and because of this they were proud of him. They stood with him in support and solidarity.

Sometimes it is best to let the dust settle just a bit on these sorts of announcements as it can give some time, distance and perspective. This is why I address this issue now.

Shortly after this was disclosed a cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune attempted to capture the sentiment of the response, and contrasted it with the disclosure of being a Christian. In the one caption, Tim Tebow confesses his faith in Christ, “I’m Christian.” A media person, a bit scornfully, replies, “Keep it to yourself.” The second picture is of Jason Collins who confesses, “I’m gay.” To this the media response is “Tell me MORE, you big hero!!!”

Chris Broussard, longtime ESPN basketball analyst, was asked how he regarded Collins’ claim to be a Christian and a sexually active gay man. Broussard, who affirmed Collins as a “great guy”, responded publicly on the air with the following:

I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. …If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I think that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian.

To this, the response was anything but accepting and tolerant. Broussard was referred to as a “bigot,” he was accused of being “intolerant” and “homophobic,” and he was criticized for being “irrelevant,” and much worse.

As one compares the responses to these two announcements, there are few to none comparisons but only – and many – contrasts.

There is a cultural conformist mindset which this exemplifies. If one looks at our culture and the cultural stream, the conformist mindset made Collins’ announcement the easier of the two. Broussard’s response was counter-cultural, a non-cultural conformist response, which explains the strong and negative backlash he experienced.

This is another one of those indicators and reminders that we live in a postmodern and an increasingly post-Christian day, which is evidenced not only in the acceptance of Collins’ announcement and how he is praised for it, but also in the response against those who do not.

Living faithfully as Christians in this changing culture will be the focus of our 2014 Theology Conference. This sort of cultural conformist mindset and its implications will be one of a number of subjects we will address. Please put the dates on your calendar and plan to attend!