The Church Is 'God's Demonstration Plot'

"The church is missionary by nature because God has sent it on a mission in the world under the leading of the Spirit. It is to bear witness to God’s redemptive reign. Just as God is a missionary God, so the church is to be a missionary church. It is to live fully within the active, redemptive, kingdom reign of God in the world as it is led and taught by the Spirit. It is to be a new community that expresses both the intent of creation design and the aspirations of re-creation as it anticipates the new heavens and new earth…

Growing up on a farm in rural Iowa provided me with and object lesson for understanding the church’s being missionary by nature. Each county in the state employed an extension agent to work with farmers. These extension agents were usually university graduates with degrees in agriculture. As new farming technologies, seeds, and fertilizers became available, the extension agents introduced these to farmers. My dad, like many farmers, was often hesitant to accept the innovations. One of the methods extension agents used to gain acceptance of these innovations was demonstration plots.

A strip of land, usually along a major roadway, was selected as a demonstration plot, where a new farming method, seed, or fertilizer was used to raise a crop. It was not uncommon for farmers to remain skeptical throughout the summer as the crops grew. But there was always keen interest in the fall when the crop was harvested. Invariably, the innovation performed better than the crops in the surrounding fields. By the next year, many farmers, including my dad, would be using the innovation as if it had been their idea all along. The church is God’s demonstration plot in the world. Its very existence demonstrates that His redemptive reign has already begun. Its very presence invites the world to watch, listen, examine, and consider accepting God’s reign as a superior way of living.”

- Craig Van Gelder, The Essence of the Church, pp. 98-100

A Quest for More: Chapter Three

Part Four of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter Three: A Total Disaster

BIG IDEA:

"As his child, when you get up in the morning you awake to a huge kingdom. It courses back through history and extends to before the foundations of the world were set in place. It extends forward in time to endless eternity. It encompasses every location known and unknown, every situation of every kind, every person and every created thing. The goal of this kingdom is the complete restoration of every last thing that was damaged by the fall. You must no longer live for yourself. Grace has led you through the door to something more and better. Grace calls you to shape your living to the contours of this amazing work of restoration." (page 45).

BASIC OUTLINE:

• The Fall ruined everything: "What happened in the garden is truly the central catastrophe of human history. It is almost impossible to overstate the hugeness of its significance Here is how big this disaster was (and is) When Adam and Eve fell, the entire cosmos fell with them!" (page 38)
  

• God's original design was gloriously transcendent and cruciform: "People lived in joyful, unafraid, and unashamed community with one another..." and "People lived in heartfelt, loving, obedient worship of God. They worshipped the Creator and managed creation; they didn't give into worshipping creation and trying to manage the Creator" (pp. 38-39).
  

• The present result of the fall is not submission to God and service to others, but the pursuit of self-rule and self-service: "The quest for autonomy will always crush transcendence...Since that horrible moment in the garden, every human being has tended to confuse autonomy with transcendence. The inertia of sin is always away from the Creator and toward ourselves. And let it be known that this is not only the struggle of the unbeliever; it is the struggle of the believer as well. As long as sin still dwells in our hearts, autonomy will war with transcendence" (page 42).
  

• "Because of this there are two things that I must always keep in view: [#1] The ongoing tendency to treat my life as if it were no bigger than my life...Most of us have learned how to celebrate our inclusion in God's great and glorious work, while functionally caring for little that does not directly address us. In doing this we have Christianized our autonomy....even though we are trying to live inside of God's boundaries, we have still manufactured a life where self is at the center." and #2 "We must keep in mind that the fall was a total disaster...it is only when you remember how big the effects of sin are that you will live the way God calls you to live. Here is the logic of living in light of the purposes of God: if sin's devastation is as wide as creation, then the scope of redemption must be just as big. Therefore, we are called to live with the total restoration of creation in view" (pp. 43-44).
  

SOME FAVORITE (and convicting!) QUOTES:

"We get so excited about the personal benefits of redemption that we lost sight of redemption that we lose sight of redemption's greater goal. Yes, the personal benefits of redemption are an amazing thing, worthy of eternal celebration. But redemption's agenda is not to make our kingdoms successful, but to welcome us to a much bigger, much better kingdom" (page 46).

"Many of you...have settled into a self-focused enjoyment of the good life. You are enjoying what grace has done to your marriage, your partnering, your friendships, and your work life. It has been all too easy for you to miss the point that you were rescued from what was very bad--not just to be part of something good, but amazingly, to be part of something very great." (page 46).

Christian Bloggers as Prophets

If you've spent much time surfing the Christian blogosphere you've probably noticed that a blogger's bent is often toward what's wrong with the Church and her preaching, practices, worship, and witness. Some have noted that Christian bloggers can be the cyber equivalent of Monday-morning-arm-chair-quarterbacks, second-guessing the ministries and messages of front-line Christians on the field while they bask in the glow of their monitors in the comfort of their mom's basement. I'm sure there is some of this extreme Church-bashing going on out there, but perhaps there is room for rants and raves that are redemptive. A chapter in Dr. Michael D. Williams' Far As The Curse Is Found recently convinced me that the mission and message of Old Testament prophets might also (or should) apply to many Christian bloggers:

Prophets minister in times of crisis, sounding the alarm, warning Israel of impending judgment whenever it has failed to seek the Lord, calling it back to its mission in the world...The prophets are complainers. They rant; they rave; they threaten. The prophets rail against Israel's worship, the monarchy, the cultic institutions, and the general lifestyle of the people. They aim their criticisms at the habits and presumptions, the complacency and waywardness of Israelite society.

A student once asked me why the vast majority of my criticism in lectures targeted the contemporary church and Christian culture rather than the sins of the secular world. I answered that I was merely following sound biblical precedent. The prophets do not expend their critical energies complaining about the militaristic cruelty of the Assyrians. Nor does Jesus deliver scathing rebukes of the easy syncretism of Roman culture. Rather, both level their criticism at Israel, the people whom God had called to be his light within a sin-darkened world (pp. 188-189).

Like the prophets of old, perhaps there are some Christian bloggers who are called to rant, rave, and rail against the Church's worship, institutions, and "the general lifestyle" of her people. Perhaps we need someone who will "aim criticisms at the habits and presumptions, the complacency and waywardness of [Christian] society."

However, the prophet's ministry was not merely one of indictment, but also one of encouragement:

But the fact that the prophets focus on the covenant people of God shows that their complaints and threats have a positive purpose: to call the covenant community back to faithfully obeying the God who had redeemed them by his mighty deeds on their behalf...The problem the prophets address is not some failure inherent in the promises of provisions of God but the failure of Israel to respond rightly to God's gracious initiations. Rather than being characterized by faithfulness and love, rather than being a light to the nations through its embodiment of covenant life, Israel engages in idolatry, gross social injustice, and religious syncretism. There is no shortage of religion and ritual, but the people have forgotten the covenant. They have forgotten why Yahweh had delivered them from Egypt and elected them, why he had given them the land, and why he had given them his law...The situation calls for a policing of Israel's response to the covenant. the prophets assume this role. Thus we might think of them as covenant enforcers (pp. 189, 191).

So also Christian blogger-prophets ought not to merely criticize the Church, but also call the Church "back to faithfully obeying the God who had redeemed them by his mighty deeds [the life, death, and resurrected life of Jesus] on their behalf." Christian bloggers have a unique opportunity to be "gospel enforcers," to preach the good news of the New Covenant to the people in the pews as well as the preachers in the pulpits. God's people must be reminded that the root cause of the Church's failure to live out her calling to be and act like the New Covenant community of Christ is our failure to respond by faith to the New Covenant, the gospel (see Galatians 5:6).

Therefore, the Christian blogger should not insist on innovation in the Church as an organization so much as invite the Church as an organism to return to her first love. Williams reminds us that:

What the prophets denounce is not the institutions of Hebrew religion but rather what the Israelites had come to make of these things...The prophets are not confessional, political, or social innovators. Rather, they serve as heirs and interpreters of a tradition that goes back to Moses and Abraham. They call Israel back to its true character and calling, back to the law, back to the covenant (pp. 190-191).

Too many bloggers decry the practices of the Church as culturally irrelevant, suggesting that the solution to the Church's poor reputation in today's culture is a willingness to blend and bend a little. But, as Ezekiel 36:16-38 suggests, the problem is not that God's people are too different from their neighbors, but that they are not different enough. God's solution was the New Covenant, the promise that through Christ he would transform his people into a community that would bear and bless his name among the nations. so that they might see the difference and be drawn to it. Like Ezekiel, the blogger-prophet must help remind the Church of her true identity as God's beloved covenant people who by his grace flesh out the Royal Law of Love (James 2), serving as bondservants of their King in the place he has put them.

So, to sum up these thoughts, I'm suggesting that these descriptions of the Old Testament prophet might serve as a call for Christian blogger-prophets to speak from God in order...

• to point out the waywardness of God's New Covenant community, the Church, and
  
• to point the Church back to heart-rending, life-transforming belief in the New Covenant promises as they are proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ,
  
• being careful not to promote innovative change in the institution as much as proclaim Christ's invitation for the Church to remember their identity as his beloved bondservants.

One last thought: The OT prophets "spoke with divine authority" (Williams, page 194). They knew their message was from God. They did not presume to speak for or from themselves. Even as they rail against corruption and rally the Church to gospel-centeredness, Christian bloggers (including me) must remember Peter's encouragement in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks [or blogs], as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves [Christ and his Bride] by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Bible Overview Resources

I've been teaching a class on a survey of the Bible and have found a few resources that have helped me more effectively communicate the "big picture" of God's Story in the Old and New Testaments.

First, a DVD-ROM called The Bible Overview: How to Understand the Bible as a Whole has excellent PowerPoint presentations that walk you through the major events of both testaments using clear, easy-to-grasp symbols and labels. I appreciate the kingdom-centered approach to the drama of redemption that unfolds in the Bible. Click here to see a sample screenshot of the Complete Picture. The DVD-ROM includes PowerPoint presentations, handouts, leader's guide, and even a PDF version of cards that can be printed, cut out, and used to reproduce the Complete Picture chart on a wall or white board. They've also included picture files that will enable you to make your own PowerPoint slides, so that you can adapt this material to your teaching situation.

This curriculum also includes a PowerPoint presentation on how to read the Bible using what they call the COMA Method. COMA is short hand for the four steps of good Bible study: Context, Observation, Meaning, and Application. I appreciate the emphasis on understanding a passage of Scripture in the Context of the larger story of God's redemptive plan.

This is one of the best tools I've seen for helping people of all ages get a grip on God's overarching Story. Amazingly, this curriculum only costs $25.00.


Second, I would highly recommend Robert Vaughan's God's Big Picture, a short book that follows the kingdom of God theme from cover to cover of the Bible. Vaughan concisely defines the Kingdom of God as "God's People in God's Place under God's rule and blessing," and then traces these themes throughout the Bible.

This book fits perfectly with The Bible Overview curriculum that I mentioned above. I was able to use Vaughan's alliterated divisions of the Story by putting them under the major headings of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration and laying them over the Complete Picture chart as follows:

CREATION

• The Pattern of the Kingdom (Creation story)
  

FALL

• The Perished Kingdom (The Fall and Babel)
  

REDEMPTION

• The Promised Kingdom (The Covenant with Abraham)
  
• The Partial Kingdom (The Law and Kings)
  
• The Prophesied Kingdom (The Prophets)
  
• The Present Kingdom (Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus)
  

RESTORATION

• The Proclaimed Kingdom (Pentecost and the Church)
  
• The Perfected Kingdom (Return of Christ; New Heavens and Earth)

Third, if you want to dig a little deeper into this "drama of redemption" I must recommend Dr. Michael D. Williams' Far As the Curse Is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption. Here's a taste:

“In its most basic structure, the Bible follows this dramatic pattern. It has an introduction, a dramatic problem that arises, a resolution to the problem, and a summing up or conclusion. We might refer to these four elements within the biblical storyline as creation, fall, redemption, and consummation…The creation-fall-redemption-consummation storyline is the central theme of Scripture, and it forms the Bible’s overarching literary structure" (page xi).

Fourth, I've found the PowerPoint presentations of Rose Publishing to be useful for helping folks visualize biblical content and Bible lands. Each PowerPoint CD-ROM also includes PDF files with well-produced handouts for students. I've also used their Ten Foot Bible Timeline chart on our classroom wall in conjunction with The Bible Overview cards I mentioned above.

A Quest for More: Chapter Two

Part Three of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter Two: More or Less?

BIG IDEA:

"We are all capable of fighting for what has little value while forgetting things of transcendent value...It is so hard for us to make the truly important things functionally important to us...When I opt for a me-centered 'more,' what I actually get is always much, much less" (pp. 26-28).

BASIC OUTLINE:

• The tendency "to talk about more, but to settle for less" is common to all humans.

• We have inherited this less-is-more attraction from Adam and Eve, who were looking for more ("you will be like God") when they settled for less ("she took of its fruit and ate...and he ate").

• Our enemy has continued to use this less-is-more tactic throughout biblical history...even tried it on Jesus.

• Our only hope is the good news that God in Christ has come to redeem us from our obsession with smaller kingdoms and to recreate us into people who "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).

SOME FAVORITE (and convicting!) QUOTES:

"A man will forget that, as a father, he has been welcomed to the transcendent glory of being part of God's work of forming human souls. Instead he will buy into the replacement glory of career success. More and more, his life will be eaten up and defined by his work. Less and less will his sense of purpose have to do with the formative community that only he can offer his children. Sadly, his children cease to be one of the joyful focuses of his living and become an obligation in an already-too-busy schedule. Less and less do his children know him, respect him, trust him, or feel his love" (page 29).

"The struggle I am describing very often takes place inside the borders of good theology and regular participation in the scheduled programs of the church. It is possible, and maybe even quite regular, to participate in these things and still be settling, in the little moments of my daily existence, for much, much less than the transcendence for which you were created. Things as mundane as wardrobe, menu, schedule, workload, location, traffic, weather, being right, getting affirmed, money, housing, employment, gardens, family rooms, sex, leisure, who's in the bathroom first, who did what with my newspaper, who ate the last of the cereal, etc.--all of all which are important in some way--rise to a spiritually dangerous level of importance in the heat of the moment. These are the moments we live in every day. The normal day is a 24-hour collection of little moments. Day after day, week after week, and year after year, these little moments set the character of a person's life.

When little things become the big thing for which I consistently fight, I have forsaken transcendence for the temporary shadow glories of creation" (pp. 30-31).

A Quest for More: Chapter One

Part Two of our Book Study on A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp.

Chapter One: A Quest for More

BIG IDEA:

"There is woven inside each of us a desire for something more--a craving to be part of something bigger, greater, and more profound than our relatively meaningless day-to-day existence" (page 14).

BRIEF OUTLINE:

"You were hardwired by your Creator for a glory orientation...We were simply made for glory, but not just the shadow glories of the created world. We were made for the one glory that is transcendent--the glory of God. When you grasp this, your life begins to make a difference" (pp. 18-19).

"Let's consider the glory-focus of Genesis 1 and 2. There are four transcendent glories that were created to be the life-shaping focus of every human being. The first is the glory for which every human being is to live, and the following three are glories that flow from the first" (page 19).

• "God glory...our lives were designed to be shaped more by our attachment to the Creator than by the creation. We were made to experience, to be part of, to be consumed by, and to live in pursuit of the one glory that is truly glorious--the glory of God" (page 19).

• "Stewardship glory...[Adam and Eve] were constructed to do more than take care of themselves; they were called to care for the wide variety of amazing things God had purposefully crafted to be reflectors of his glory...it was a call for Adam and Eve to never shrink the size of their care to care for themselves" (page 20).

• "Community glory...God makes Adam and Eve and immediately calls them to the transcendent glory of a world-reaching, generation-spanning, and history-encompassing community. This commitment to community was meant to be a major shaping focus of their day-to-day living" (page 21).

• "Truth glory...Immediately upon creating Adam and Eve, God did something that he had not done with anything else he made. He spoke to them...God's words contained knowledge of him, the meaning and purpose of life, a moral structure for living, the nature of human identity, a fundamental human job description, a call to human community, and a call to divine worship...Every thought was meant to be shaped by the truth glory that he would patiently and progressively impart to them" (pp. 21-22).

SOME FAVORITE QUOTES:

"I am afraid there are many people of faith who attend church each week, give regularly to God's work, know their Bible pretty well, and don't live overtly evil lives; but they have settled for 'below and less' when they were created for 'above and more.'

The mistake they have made is that they have shrunk their Christianity to the size of their own lives. They have taken God's grace and wisdom as an invitation to a better marriage, a better relationship with their children, a better extended family life, better success at work, etc. And there is a way that God's grace does invite me to all of these things. But here is the point of this little book: God invites you to so much more!" (pp. 17-18)

"It is about living for a greater kingdom than the kingdom of my life, my family, and my job. And where do I live for this greater kingdom? In my life, my family, and my job!" (page 23)

Book Study: A Quest for More

Our church is reading A Quest for More by Paul David Tripp together this summer. Over the coming weeks, I'll post some quotes from and thoughts about the book, so stay tuned. [One way to stay tuned is to subscribe to The Cruciform Life by email. See the right hand side bar of this page.]

Dr. Tripp has made a brief but intriguing video introduction to the book that would be worth your time to watch. You can also read the first chapter for free here.

Here are some comments about the book from Dr. Tripp's website:

Is Christ the center of your life?

Is He really your source, your motive, your goal, and your hope?

Is it possible that your Christianity may, in fact, exclude Christ?

“There really is no place for Christ in many people’s Christianity. Their faith is not actually in Christ; it is in Christianity and their own ability to live it out.”

Paul David Tripp expertly traverses the deepest recesses of the human heart and compassionately invites fellow Christian travelers to journey with him into God’s bigger kingdom. The author promises readers that they will be encouraged, excited, and motivated by hope as they learn how to set aside their “little kingdom” attachments which can expertly masquerade within the church as Christian activism, legalism, emotionalism, formalism, creedalism, and externalism; in favor of God’s expansive and soul-freeing eternal quest.

Tripp demonstrates through sound biblical principles how humanity is made by God to transcend far beyond the mere physical realm and is likewise created to be “glory junkies”—those whose visionary lives are governed by God’s grand purposes rather than existing only within their narrow self-interested confines. Writes the author, “It is a fundamental denial of your humanity to narrow the size of your life to the size of your own existence, because you were created to be an ‘above and more’ being. You were made to be transcendent.” Tripp then shows Christians how to “transcend” through daily, moment-by-moment, practical methodology that transforms individuals into the image of Christ.