What all gospels have in common

In this post, you will find how the mind of me, the blogger you came here to observe, really thinks about things. Some of you will be revolted, and others will walk away sort of giddy like a 14-year-old who has just had his first half-beer.

Alert Reader "Jude" linked us to a NYT story which he thought was good fodder for our on-going tirade against Global Warming, and superficially, it is. Nice work, Jude.

But in that story is this interesting piece of columnizing, and read it carefully:

“I don’t think of myself predicting things,” [Freeman Dyson] says. “I’m expressing possibilities. Things that could happen. To a large extent it’s a question of how badly people want them to. The purpose of thinking about the future is not to predict it but to raise people’s hopes.”

You know: you get brilliant things said by brilliant people all the time. In fact, in this day and age when almost every word muttered is somehow replayed in some media or other, there is so much brilliance out there that it's like Syndrome's wicked plan to subvert the world of Supers: when everybody is brilliant, it's just another way of saying that nobody is brilliant.

And Freeman Dyson is one of those people that, as they say, you only read about in newspapers. Freeman John Dyson FRS (born December 15, 1923) is a British-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, and nuclear engineering. He is a lifelong opponent of nationalism and a proponent of nuclear disarmament and international cooperation. Dyson is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

But think about what Dyson is saying here -- the underlined part especially. The purpose of thinking about the future is not to predict it but to raise people's hopes.

If you want insight into the human condition, people, and what it is we can do to actually deliver the Gospel, think about what Dyson says here. What he is saying here, in considering the world, is that the world is what it is -- but when we think about it, we have to think about it in such a way that it results in hope for the future. You see: this is what all alleged "gospels" have in common: they give people hope for the future.

And they have this in common because, frankly, they are imitating the actual Gospel, the actual good news which is good tidings of great joy to all the people. The problem we Christians have is that we have completely lost sight of this fact. When we are considering the future with people, our vision ought to be full of hope.

This is why I have such a love for our post-millennial brethren: they get this. I mean, they are not building bunkers because Christ is going to return to a burned-out ash and make all things new inspite of us Christians and the rest of the sinners we didn't evangelize: they want to live for Christ, knowing that to die is gain.

So somehow, get this part of the Gospel into what you're talking about out there. The Gospel is given to us in part that we might raise people's hopes about the future..

I forgot to mention: Freeman Dyson is a practicing Christian. Are you?

A fine point

This essay can only be true if God actually designed the human body. If the human body is a consequence of evolution -- that is, survival of the fittest; the ones ready to make it just make it -- then this essay makes no sense.

Discuss.

UPDATED: There are other things God designed as well, and this follow up story hints at at least one of them.

shepherd in the field

Our buddy johnMark interviewed these church plant pastors, and it's worth reading. Don't go out and get a tat for your new favorite doctrine, but think about supporting gospel workers among the poorest of the poor.

thumbing

Wow. I haven't posted anything in December yet – and while I'm sure some of you are pleased with such a thing, I have a reputation to keep up.

Yes, I know: that's what you were afraid of.

Those of you who enjoyed my last post would enjoy this sermon by John Piper about the Prodigal son, and if you can't figure out how the two are related, let me sketch it out for you.

Last time, we were talking about this bus which is salvation from the wrecker, and how those of us on the bus have an obligation to stop the bus and get off from time to time to get other people who are broken down on the side of the road in busted jalopies which are only worthy of the trash-heap – we have to get off and tell them that this is the only bus which isn’t going to the scrap yard where the worm doesn't die and the fire is never quenched.

But on the one hand, we have the problem of sometimes getting off the bus dressed like we're not really able or willing to help, but our heart's in the right place. But on the other hand, some of us have another problem. A couple of us get off the bus, get a couple jalopy-drivers to get on the bus, and suddenly when we all go to get back on the bus, one among us will say something like this:

"Listen – I can't get back on that bus. I mean, I've been faithful for a long time to do everything that the bus driver requires of me – and I was grateful to do it, right? – but he's letting these people who don’t really appreciate how great this bus is sit in the same seat that I sit in. They get to sit next to the window, just like me. Their chairs really recline nicely and they get to pick which movie we're going to watch next – just like me. I can't get back on that bus until I'm sure those ingrates have shown me that they know exactly how good they have it, and they walk it off a little by doing some of the work around here."

Yes: sometimes we forget to wear working clothes for the work we're going to do, and at the same times, sometimes we expect everybody to be able and willing to do the work we're doing right now – that somehow they're not really Christians unless they are at least at the same place walking it off they we are.

But here's what the bus driver says about that:

My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.

I want you to think about this carefully today, because I think the point is a sharp one: in the same way that the bus stops for the one who hasn’t gotten on yet, it also stops for you who got on a long time ago. That is, the driver is waiting for you to get on and rejoice with the other people, none of whom deserve their place there.

"None of whom" includes you, and it includes me. And at the place where we can't see how undeserving others are because we are so blinded instead by how undeserving we are, maybe then we'll really be on the bus rather than just thumbing our nose at a ride.

UPDATED: wow -- I almost forgot the reason I wrote this post. These guys are getting people on the bus, and they are a mission church. Support them if you are able and willing, especially at Christmas.

the wrecker is coming

Phil posted a video at TeamPyro today which is a parody of the Rob Bell "Bullhorn Guy" video, and then the Friel extrapolation of the Bell "Bullhorn Guy" video, and it made me think about this guy I work with.

He and I have had a few conversations about the Christian faith because he says he's a Christian, but he doesn't go to church anymore -- and here's the irony: it's not because church is too judgmental. It's because, as he says, church is too full of pretty people.

That's his phrase: "pretty people". Now, if you ask him what that means, he'll tell you that he's a pretty messed-up guy with a lot of spiritual problems, and a church full of pretty people with no problems doesn't do anything for him but frustrate him. Their lives don't encourage him or make him a better person or turn him toward God: their lives actually discourage him because he knows, frankly, that he'll never get there.

Now, before we break out the big Calvinist "we're #1" fingers and start playing the Fight Song, that's not all of this guy's thoughts. He's also a guy who doesn't really like the idea of hell and wants to qualify it as separation only, and he's ultimately not into a church that is going to make demands on him.

But I bring this up for a couple of reasons. The first one is this -- we really have to answer the questions people have, and not the questions we wish they had. In one sense, those of us with the Gospel are driving along on the highway of life and we see a lot of cars on the side of the road -- all kinds of breakdowns -- and we are in the only bus that is going to get people to someplace other than the junkyard. And we're supposed to be stopping and picking people up, not just driving past and worrying about these people.

But if we stop the bus and get out wearing a tuxedo (or, for the ladies reading, a wedding dress) and tell these people we've come to help, they're probably not going to take our offer at face value -- because they don't really need a pretty person in nice clothes to help them with a busted jalopy: at the very least, they think they need a mechanic, or a cell phone to call a mechanic, or maybe a guy with a toolbox. They're not looking for someone in clothes so nice that they'd be afraid to mess them up.

The other reason to bring this up is that while they may recognize some part of the problem, the other half of the truth is that they don't really know what they need. They have "felt needs", right? They might be worried that they can't get to work because their car is busted, or they might be worried that they can't afford a new car so this old one has to keep running. But the real solution for anyone is that they have to get on the bus. They don't have to pay a fare, they don't have to sit in any particular seat: they just have to get on the bus and leave the old car behind.

That solution may not seem intuitive to them -- even though it seems really obvious to us. So as we try to get people on the bus, let me suggest that we not forget that the goal is to get people on the bus because the wrecker is coming. Their busted jalopy will get picked up by the wrecker, and they need to leave the busted jalopy or they are going to go where it is going.

We probably should be dressed in a way that they'll believe us when we tell them to get on the bus, but they have to get on the bus -- and the reason is not because the bus will take them where they think they want to go: it's because the jalopy is going someplace they definitely don't want to go, whether they believe it or not.

The Main Event

You most faithful readers know that ultimately, I'm a fan of Mark Driscoll. Fan -- can't help it. Somebody has said that there isn't a "Billy Graham" for 21st century Christianity, and I totally disagree -- I think Driscoll is in the running to be such a thing, if I can say that and not cause a complete melt-down of the blogosphere and everything that's holy.

I just got wind of this because I was poking around at his church website, but Pastor Mark is conducting a poll to find out what he ought to preach on in January, and I just scanned the top-50 contenders for topics, and I think it's pure gold.

Now, some of you are going to have a lot of negative things to say about this technique -- like it's a little cheeky of Driscoll to ask the internet, which is frankly overpopulated with non-believers, to pick his sermon topics. But before you start cranking the handle of your organ and set the monkey to dancing, look at the list of questions.

If Driscoll preaches through this list of questions and gives the orthodox answers to these questions, he will have done more for Christian evangelism than anyone since Billy Graham because this is the ground in which we are conducting evangelism today.

The Solution

Those of you who are sort of over-involved in the internet (let's face it – I am) have notices the evolution of the right-side saidebar, and I've amp'd up some of the slogans with better graphics.

But I wonder if I've spent enough time working out all the attributes of the top slogan, coined by my pastor – "The Gospel is the Solution to Culture." As a sort of intro or preface to working that out in detail, let me point you at this little gem by Presbyterian malcontent Doug Wilson. It's not everything I'd say on the subject, and there are parts which I would prolly not affirm completely, but it's a good place to start.

A perfect example

I ran into this little story about a boy named "Zeno", and I'm wondering: with 6 billion plus people in the world, is the problem really that there aren't enough people for each of us to have a companion?

Talk about a mission field. If "Zeno" seems like a good idea, maybe we should be thinking about "why".

A loose end I forgot about

Hello? Anybody still have a feed open?

This is a picture of the Dickson family. Matt and Jenna used to be members of our church, but they moved. The reason they moved is an interesting story -- they sold their big house in order to live is a smaller house; they wanted to live in a smaller house because they wanted to serve God with their money, rather than to serve their money.

That's an interesting idea, isn't it? Serve God with your money.

However, that's not why I'm violating the hiatus to post this. I linked to this video about a month ago:



In 2 weeks, Matt is slated to start work in Carrollton, TX, with Gospel for Asia.

Because 100% of all money given to Gospel for Asia for missions work is sent to the mission field, the home team missionary staff must raise their own financial support. The Dickson's goal is to raise a total of $3,600/month in support to meet their family's salary and insurance needs. This support is provided by those who feel led by God to partner with them in helping reach the 2.7 billion people who have never heard the Gospel.

Today, they have sufficient support in one-time gifts to make the move, but they are short by about a third in continuing dollars. Rather than overwhelm you with what a third looks like, here's what I'm thinking. Go to their blog, read their story, watch the video a second time (you didn't watch it the first time? One of my readers?), and send them a commitment for on-going support.

Now, under normal circumstances, about 300-400 people a day read the blog. With the hiatus being all official and what-not, there are maybe a couple-hundred hard-core hangers-on who are reading today. In that, I'm going to make two specific requests:

[1] Al Sends: contact Matt and Jenna and see if you can plug them on your radio show, dude. If you can't support them with $20 a month for the next 5 years, maybe you can get their story into the ears of 50 people who can. Even if they are Presbyterians.

[2] The rest of you: Think about $10/month to support this family who is going to serve God rather than money. Matt is giving up a great job -- the kind most of us are still clawing up the ladder to get -- in order to go and serve the Gospel with the talents he has. Jenna is, well, following him there, and taking 3 boys under the age of 10 without any questions. If 100 people can commit to give $10/month for the next 5 years, it will be a foothold for the Dicksons in their new life in world missions.

This of it this way: there are usually about 22 week days in any given month. Get a jar, and label it "Jesus Loves Matt and Jenna". Every week day, when you come home from work, drop 2 quarters out of your pocket change into that jar rather than dropping those quarters in the ash tray of your car. And when you drop that money in there, pray like this: "Father -- I'm grateful that at the end of the day I have a place to stay safely, and I have more than enough to live on. These two quarters are a gift which I usually take for granted, but today I'm not going to treat the extra you gave me as if it was worthless. Bless this money and the work of those it is going to support. Keep the Dicksons safe, and thank you for their example about what my priorities ought to be. I love you, God, and I am glad I can remember your grace even in this small way. May your name be glorified in this. Amen."

At the end of the first month, you can send the Dicksons $10, and you can keep $1 for an ice cream cone or something -- maybe the hardcore among you will give that $1 to your church as a love offering. But listen: even though this isn't Katrina or anything, this is the time we have to answer the question about who we serve.

Little is much

Listen to this 3-minute MP3 from John Piper and then ask yourself: will I trust God to say something right about Jesus to someone today?

Just say something. You.