Is Mark Driscoll Bigger than the Cross?(aka, what Church should I go to)

What makes a good church?  Why should you go to "this" church instead of "that" church? 

The Gospel.

Let me be more clear.

The message that we are sinners.  Lost and dead in our sin.  Christ came and died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.  Through his FINISHED work on the cross we can have life and this is the power of God.  And the cross PREACHED is alone the power that a church has to share.  (I Corinthians 1:18)

Everything flows from that.

Paul says in Galatians 1:8 that if anyone is preaching something OTHER than the Gospel of Christ crucified they are under a curse. 

So what about churches and people teaching things that you disagree with regarding secondary issues?  In Philippians 1 Paul shares about two types of people; 1) Those who preach Christ humbly, and, 2) Those who preach Christ for personal gain.  And how does he respond to these "false" teachers?  He rejoices that the Gospel is preached. 

So why doesn't he get more tough on these self-centered teachers?  I believe it is because of what he says in 1 Corinthians;  Only the cross has power.  Either we, in our clever words and window dressings, have the ability to change lives, or, the redemptive finished work of Christ on the cross changes lives. 

Let me illustrate this in a silly way.....

If I have a goal to teach someone how to read there are a number of different ways I can present it.  Some we could argue are better than others.  Some techniques might even be fairly absurd.  But even if I teach my son that the way to read is to hold a book in one hand while tugging on his ear with the other, does he learn how to read?  Yes.  We can all agree that my added ear tugging was unnecessary and ultimately unhelpful, but, if he does learn to read, he will probably realize that the ear tugging is superfluous to the process and eliminate it on his own.  Yet the essential and life changing goal has been achieved.  He can now read.  And he will be able to read for the rest of his life.

If Christ is preached, and the cross is visible, most, if not all, of the superfluous ridiculousness that people may add will eventually take a back seat.  Because it is not our power that changes lives, but the power of God. 

Does this mean we ignore absurdity?  No.  But we too often focus on the absurdity and not the power.  The way we criticize other churches is often done in such a way that we are subtly claiming that because they have added some "ear tugging" they aren't really alive in Christ.  If the central message of a church is Christ Crucified, than let us rejoice in the Gospel.  Which isn't the same as saying that we should all go to that church and participate in "ear tugging". 

In the course of the Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill saga(look it up yourself) a common refrain I hear is how "this" is the sort of thing that causes people to leave Christ.  Let me say that again.  When my son discovers that my "ear tugging" technique was stupid he will never read again........

What power do we preach?  Our own?  Or the Cross?  If we preach the Cross, regardless of the reasons or the technique, than our own failures and mistakes have no effect on the power of God.  Unless you believe that a single man, or church, can supersede the power of Christ. 

Say whatever you want about Driscoll and his innumerable problems, but he preached the Cross.  There are literally thousands of stories of people who came to the cross through the message of the Gospel that was preached.  There surely was a progressive growth of "ear tugging" secondary doctrines that began to bleed into the life of Mars Hill, but the cross was always preached.  And like Paul, I rejoice for the lives that were saved because of CHRIST! 

And we should also weep for the people who were hurt by the secondary issues.  This is a fine line that we must struggle to maintain.  But we can not lose perspective that while we have a responsibility to address sinful behavior(ala Paul vs Peter), we cannot begin a process of claiming that the power of salvation comes from any one teacher's perfect motivation and technique. 

When we look for a church to go to we must begin and end with the question, is the Cross preached?  If it is, than weigh carefully the secondary issues.  If it isn't, it is not a church.  Even if it gets secondary issues right.   

Reminder...preaching the Gospel does not give you a pass for sin....

Staying Up when the Storms Come

Confession time:  I am not a very good gymnast.  Shocking I know.... I can't do a cartwheel, swing on the uneven bars, spin on the rings, or, leap over the horse thingy and do flips as I soar gracefully over.  But you know what I can do, walk on a balance beam.

The trick to walking successfully over a balance beam is really quite simple, and somewhat non-intuitive.  Don't look down at your feet, keep your head level and look forward.  I am sure that there is some sort of neurological reason for it, but I don't like doing research, so.....just trust me...SCIENCE!  But it does make sense, when you hyper focus on the ground you are more likely to lose your sense of directive balance.  Looking at your destination is more sure-fire recipe for success. 

Life illustration moment.......You can't allow yourself to lose your forward looking focus and momentum.  We have such a tendency to become consumed by the finite moments we get ourselves into.  Tunnel vision sets in and all we can sense and know seems to be the mud we are currently standing in.  Success in life is deeply rooted in a "tomorrow" vision.  When we live only stuck in the moment of our current condition(YOLO anyone...??) we make terrible choices and get even more stuck. 

Instead, when we have a vision that takes us out of where we are right now and sees where we are heading, it becomes infinitely easier to keep moving and not get lost in the moment.  Life is full of this.  And we are so prone to forgetting the future and being consumed by the present. 

Don't misread me.  Life isn't just a destination, we do need to embrace the immediacy of each day, but we can't become controlled by today.  What is happening to you, and, in your life, right now, is NOT THE END. 

What is your future focus?

In Matthew 14 we have this beautiful story of the disciples going ahead of Jesus on a boat.  Soon a strong wind buffets the boat with waves and Jesus walks out on the water to join them.  At first the disciples are a bit disconcerted assuming they are seeing a ghost.  Jesus says, "Nope, just me fellas(my paraphrase) and Peter says let me come out to you.

Peter wants to experience the power of Jesus.  He doesn't want to just sit in the boat and observe, he wants to leap right into the miraculous.  How often we content ourselves to sitting on the boat and accepting the mundane and boring life when the miraculous is right on the other side of the bow?!?! 

And he does it!

At first.....

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

He lost his focus on the destination, saw the problems, and he sank. 

There are two places you and I often find ourselves in;  1) To afraid to run to Jesus because we only see the "danger" in getting out of the boat.  2)  We lose our courage not long after starting off and we find ourselves sometimes in a more difficult place then we were before.

You are not made to sit in the boat.  Jesus is out there, calling you to join him.  Get up.  Get going.

Don't lose focus and courage once you start.  We start with good intentions, and that is when things can get frightening.  We are out of our comfort zone, it is scarier than we thought it was.  Too often we start off in a good way, but we don't follow through.  Sell out and run to Christ.

The great thing about Grace though is that even when we lose our footing Jesus doesn't give up on us.

 ^"Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him"

How encouraging.  How beautiful.  How true to my own heart.  So many times I set out with great intentions, and forget who I am looking towards.  Soon I find myself in over my head and drowning.  When I call out for help there isn't a lecture, or a thoughtful discussion on my mistakes.  IMMEDIATELY Jesus reaches out His hand and catches me. 

Walk with courage towards Christ, and know that when you fall prey to the storms in your life, you are not alone.  You will be lifted back up and you can begin again.