The Gospel Driven Life

Being Good News People in a Bad News World

Tentative ScheduleChapter Title Week Date

Looking Up, Looking Out: Breaking News

1 The Front Page God: Checking Headlines 1 17 August

2 The Real Crisis 2 24 August

3 The Big Story 3 31 August

4 Getting the Story Straight 4 7 September

5 Don’t Just DO Something, SIT There! Finding yourself in the Story 5 14 September

6 The Promise-Driven Life 6 21 September

Looking Around, Looking Ahead: A Cross-Cultural Community

7 News of War and Peace: God’s Politics for a New Creation 7 5 October

8 How the Good News Creates a Cross-Cultural Community 8 12 October

9 The Health Page: Feasting in a Fast-Food World 9 19 October

10 Today’s Headline: The Church in Exile 10 26 October

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You get Things Done

Part 1 First Things First: Making God Supreme in Our Productivity 11 2 November

Part 2 Gospel-Driven Productivity 12 9 November

Parts 3-- 6 DARE: Define, Architect, Reduce, Execute 13 16 November

HOW THE GOOD NEWS CREATES A CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNITY

Chapter 8

How would you describe your church?

• Atmosphere• Demographics• Relationships• Activities• Worship• Teaching

Introduction• The Good News is God’s pledge to save out of the

whole world a people for himself – through Abraham’s seed

• The gospel is– not about us it is for us– Keeping divisions (Jew/Gentile) is tantamount to denying the

gospel• We come from different walks of life; but the church is

cross cultural – defined by Christ’s work

A Cross-Culture• We tend to separate based on demographics

– Ethnicity, age, socio-economics, hobbies, interests … politics!• The gospel creates its own, odd community“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. “(Galatians 3:27-29 ESV)

A Cross-Culture• How do we reflect this in the church?• Refocus on:– Drama– Doctrine– Doxology– Discipleship

The Society Page• We are preoccupied with our own stories – but when

something really BIG happens: we unite• “Band of Brothers” (HBO series): disparate men joined in

a common battle & life/death struggles• The church is a community formed by word and

sacrament – not activism:“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 ESV)

The Ministry of the WordLUTHER: “In short, I will preach it [the word of God] teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wit-tenberg beer with my friends Phillip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it….”

The Ministry of the Word“… I did nothing; the Word did everything. Had I desired to foment trouble, I could have brought great bloodshed upon Germany; indeed, I could have started such a game that even the emperor would not have been safe. But what would it have been? Mere fool’s play. I did nothing; I let the Word do its work.”

Martin Luther, “Second Sermon on Monday after Ivocavit, March 10, 1522, in Luther’s Works, ed. John W. Doberstein and Helmut T. Lehmann

The Ministry of the Word• The apostles and prphets did not think of their

words as dead ink on a page: “The word of God is living and active…” (Heb 4:12)

• Recall Romans 10:– We do not strive to climb up to God to bring him

down– He sends his word – it is near– He appoints and sends ambassadors

The Ministry of the Sacraments• The Great Commission: “go … make disciples …

baptizing … and teaching”• The promises are ratified by signs and seals– OT: tree of life, rainbow, circumcision, Passover– NT: baptism, the Lord’s Supper

• These are signs that we receive – not works that we do– Cleansing at the beginning of our journey– Refreshing, heavenly food along the way

God’s Agenda for a New World Order: Different Politics for Different Kingdoms

• POLITICS:– the activities associated with the governance of a country or

other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power

– activities within an organization that are aimed at improving someone's status or position and are typically considered to be devious or divisive

– the assumptions or principles relating to or inherent in a sphere, theory, or thing, especially when concerned with power and status in a society

God’s Agenda for a New World Order: Different Politics for Different Kingdoms

• The world has its politics and ways – and we live alongside unbelievers:– Voting, working, serving volunteering– Discerning the best way for the common good

• In the Kingdom of Christ, we are elected by God– Made coheirs, fellow guests, recipients of his good

gifts

God’s Agenda for a New World Order: Different Politics for Different Kingdoms

• Each time we gather at the Lord’s Table, Christ gives himself to us as our food and drink

• Forgiveness and reconciliation come through the preaching of the word

“Of course what our Lord has to say is not simply commands for another week, though worship will include these …. Yet before the imperatives… there must come the indicatives. He who is the risen One tells of what He has done for us.”

– H. H. William M. Cant, “The most Urgent Call to the Kirk: the Celebration of Christ in the Liturgy of Word and Sacrament,” Scottish Journal of Theology 40.1(1987):110

The Promise-Driven Church• Who do you think you are? What do you want to

be?• How much is that driven by your consumer profile?“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 ESV)

The Promise-Driven Church

“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:39 ESV) • A promise that the church is to deliver on

God’s behalf and in Christ’s name• It is a promise “for you”• It is “for your children”• It is for “all who are far off”

The Ministry and the Mission• When we begin to think that we bring Christ’s kingdom

by our own feverish activity we forget:– God is the ultimate evangelist: “whom the Lord our God calls

to himself.” (Acts 2:39) • The mission of the church is to execute the marks of

the church, which are the keys of the kingdom that Christ gave to his apostles.

• God may use many means but he ordained these and has promised to work through them

Too Busy Serving to be Served?• There is a gathering – an ekklesia – through

God’s working in the word and sacrament• Like Mary – who “sat at the Lord’s feet and

listened to his teaching” (Lk 10) – we must be served before we can serve.

• We must be grounded, rooted, and saturated with the indicatives – the promises of God – in order to be equipped to serve

Dancing with Strangers• The Bridegroom has come and it is time to

come to the feast – the banquet hall is filling with his guests

• The gospel is compelling those from all walks of life to come

Dancing with Strangers• We need to change our mind about everything

that really matters – burn our own ‘script’ and receive a new one

• This is not merely by introspection: it is when we enter a whole new world – the theatre of God’s grace – and hear something truly, wonderfully, bewilderingly new

Dancing with Strangers• The weekly gathering brings us into this new world

– The word is proclaimed– The promise is ratified in baptism– We receive Christ's sacrifice in the supper

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 ESV)

Recovering the Lord’s Day• We cannot talk about the importance of

discipleship and neglect public worship (Heb 10:25)

• How we spend the Lord’s Day is a register of our contentment in God’s provision – daily bread and eternal life