CAPSTONE LIVING HAS MOVED!!!

I’ve got a new blog address. Go to www.capstoneliving.org for the new blog!

Enjoy!

A Third Way For The Evangelist

I’m an evangelist! It’s literally my job to preach the gospel to anything that moves and invite it to start following Jesus! Whether it responds or not is ultimately up to God!

But as an evangelist, I think there are two equally damaging extremes towards which we can gravitate. I’ve outlined them below:

1. Never Challenge Our Listeners For A Decision

I think this is probably the one I gravitate towards more often. I preach the lostness of man, the reality of judgement, the glory of the cross, the freedom of forgiveness and then stop. It’s as if I just assume the implications of the message are obvious.

Don’t get me wrong, I regularly appeal for people to turn from their sin and put their faith in Jesus, but it’s usually during a talk or from the front of a classroom.

Think about it. Who was the last person you actually invited to follow Christ? Have you ever personally challenged someone to start following Christ?

Our job is not just to preach the Gospel, but having done that, to invite people to follow Christ!

2. Always Challenge Our Listeners For A Decision

I think the danger of the second extreme only becomes obvious after a few months or perhaps even years. Sometimes we can be so eager to have our listeners make a decision for Christ, that it becomes all we care about. With good intentions, we can urge people to pray a prayer of commitment, assure them of forgiveness and merrily send them on their way to Hell.

It’s only after a few months go by that you realise something’s wrong. Where is their fruit? Where is their passion for God’s word? Where is there love for his people? Why do they seem so uninterested?

Perhaps in your eagerness for a decision you unintentionally gave them the impression that if they simply prayed “The Prayer” they’d be ok.

Both extremes are incredibly damaging. The first leads to theologically articulate non-Christians, and the second leads to uneducated non-Christians with a false sense of security! Either way, the end result of our evangelism is the same. Our listeners are still dead in their sins and in danger of God’s judgement!

I want to suggest a third way:

3. Make Disciples Of All Nations

Not surprisingly, it’s what Jesus commands his disciples to do. And it’s what Jesus did. The fact that I’m writing this today is evidence enough that it worked.

Jesus chose 12 men and discipled them for three years. He not only shared the Good News with them but his life as well. They got to watch how he prayed, listen as he taught, and learn as he loved. They had three years of the best Bible study in the world, and then he sent them out, mature in him, ready to do the same.

A disciple is a follower of Jesus. They know who he is, they’ve counted the cost, and they’ve given up everything to follow him.

Jesus wants true disciples! Not informed pagans or quick decision makers, but deeply devoted, cross-carrying, Christ exalting disciples! That’s the kind of ministry that will see the other side of judgement day.

Disciple making is harder than options 1 and 2 for a few reasons:

• It takes more time.
• It involves relationship.
• It’s less impressive.
• And it’s costly.

But it’s worth it because:

• Jesus did it.
• People actually become Christians.
• And in the process they learn what it looks like to be “disciple-making disciples”.

I believe it is my responsibility as an evangelist to walk the fine line between these two equal and opposite extremes, and instead, make disciples who will follow Jesus wherever he calls.

Surviving Scripture (a few thoughts on discipline)

“Teaching Scripture is the low point of my week”, a friend told me recently.

He wasn’t a trained teacher, he didn’t know what to do in a classroom, and he was quickly growing tired of it.

I knew exactly how he felt!

Now I’m far from being an expert, but I can still remember the pain of the early days, and the dread that nearly suffocated me every time I anticipated my next class. I had kids throwing paper planes at each other, falling off their chairs, rolling across the floor, calling out, talking back, refusing to work, and just generally giving me hell!

So what changed?

I stopped trying to be their friend, and started being their teacher.

Every teacher needs a discipline policy, and every teacher needs to be consistent. Now in my opinion, a silent Scripture class is not only unrealistic but probably pretty boring. You need to decide in advance what level of ‘chatter’, ‘banter’ and ‘fun’ is going to be appropriate, but also conducive to your lessons. Once you’ve established this, the challenge is to maintain it.

It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you’ve got a policy. If you’re school’s got a system and you can use it, go ahead! But all too often we Scripture teachers are left to fend for ourselves, and so I thought I’d tell you what I do:

Three Strikes And You’re Out

Strike One: You must give these out quickly! There are no immediate consequences to Strike One (or the first warning as I usually call it), so there is no need to feel bad about giving it out. You simply tell the disruptive student or students that they have been warned, and that if they continue to disrupt the class you will have to move them.

Strike Two: You move the student to a spare desk, as far away from the students he or she was sitting with as possible. If there were multiple students disrupting the class (for example three students), then move the middle student (even if he or she was not the most disruptive). Most students will calm down after this.

Strike Three: You send the student outside for a few minutes. This not only ejects the disruptive student from the classroom (allowing the rest of the class to regain focus), but it also gives the student an opportunity to calm down on his or her own. When there is an appropriate lull in the class and you have a moment to duck outside (when students are watching a video or working quietly), go outside and speak to the student. After this, bring the student back inside. Except in special cases, he or she should no longer be an issue.

You’re Out: If a student continues to disrupt the class after being brought back into the classroom, I then send them back to their original class to do non-Scripture. Depending on how Scripture works at your school, this may not be an option for you, but whatever happens, you absolutely must get this student out of the room. The class will never be able to continue until you do.

If a student is sent back to class twice in one semester, they are no longer welcome in my class. Although this may seem harsh and unloving, it is actually the most loving thing you can do for the rest of the class. In the words one experienced Scripture teacher, “If one idiotic kid has his heart set on hell, so be it. There’s no way I’m letting him take the rest of the class with him”. It sounds harsh, but I don’t think it’s all that dissimilar to the idea behind Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 5, “a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough”.

A Few Hints To Make Life Easier:

1. If you have a smaller class, make sure no students sit in the back row. For almost a year I would say to students sitting in the back row, “It’s not that I think you’re horrible people, I’m sure you’re very lovely people. It’s not that I’m trying to disrespect you; in fact I respect you very much! But if you could please do me a favour and move somewhere out of the back row I would very much appreciate it because it just makes my job a little easier”. When treated with respect like this, almost all students are more than happy to oblige. These days my students just don’t sit in the back row.
2. Give out the first warning quickly! If you haven’t given out a warning in the first few minutes you’re either too soft or you’ve got the top class.
3. Remember who you’ve given warnings to. There’s no use in having a three-strike policy if kids can get 3 strike ones!
4. If possible, always have a spare desk (or two) with chairs right up the front of the classroom. This means that when you get to Strike Two, you have a spare desk ready for them and there is minimal disruption to the class.
5. When you send a student outside, make sure you walk them out and tell them to stand with their back to the wall on the opposite side of the hallway (if possible). This should mean that you can still see them outside when you’re at the front of the classroom, but that they are out of sight to the rest of the students who are in your classroom sitting at their desks.

As I said earlier, you absolutely must have a discipline policy! I teach at St Ives High, and this is what works for me. You may be teaching somewhere else and find that my system doesn’t work so well for you. That’s ok, just make sure you have a system!

And remember, stop trying to be their friends and start being their teacher! Chances are, if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably find that you not only start to enjoy teaching scripture but that you actually make a few friends along the way!

Relationship Not Religion. What the???

Ever told someone that being a Christian is all about having a “relationship with Jesus”? I have. And it is true…

But what on earth does it actually mean? And why do you need one?

Faith

I think it’s linked to the idea of faith!

You see at the heart of the Gospel is the good news that salvation is now available to all people through faith. But faith is not simply the belief in a few spiritual truths about God! It’s the complete reliance of a sinful human upon the person of Jesus Christ to save them from their sins!

At the heart of saving faith is a relationship of reliance upon Jesus! Not good works, not praying, not going to church, but faith in Jesus!

In Christ

So why Jesus?

The Bible describes Jesus in many ways, but one of them is as a mediator. “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2:5). And as our mediator, Christ speaks to his father in our defense (1 John 2:1). That means when you sin -whether you lie, cheat, steel or lust- Jesus actually speaks to his father and says something to the effect of, “Father forgive him, he’s with me”.

Think about it this way. Imagine you’re at school and you do something so bad that the principal is going to expel you. So you plead with him, and you promise to be good from now on, but nothing seems to work. You’re still going to get expelled.

But then a teacher that you have a relationship with comes along and mediates for you. She says, “Look principal, I want you to forgive little Johnny for what he’s done, he’s in my tutor group”. At that moment, all of your faith, all of your trust, all of your reliance is on the mediation of your teacher. Your future rests in her hands.

Unfortunately for you however, your principal ignores your teacher and expels you anyway.

Because He Died

Just like the teacher, Jesus is our mediator.

But unlike the teacher he doesn’t just ask God to forgive you because you’re on his team. He asks God to forgive you because he’s already paid for your sins. And unlike the Principal, God listens to Jesus because the penalty has already been paid!

Being a Christian is all about “having a relationship with Jesus” through faith, because without Jesus we’re dead in our sins. Jesus is the only one who can speak to God in our defense because Jesus is the only one who’s paid for our sins, and he can’t speak for those he doesn’t know!

Looking For Life

I recently spoke on Treestump, which is a camp for students in yr 7-9 at Christ Church St Ives. It was a great week of fun and learning from John’s Gospel, and thankfully (for the first time ever) I managed to record the talks. The audio isn’t amazing quality because my iPhone was on the floor, but it’s good enough if you use head phones!

To download them you should just be able to right click and hit ‘download linked file’.

1. Looking For Life

2. Jesus Brings Clarity

3. Jesus Brings Satisfaction

4. Jesus Brings Life

5. Jesus Brings Certainty

I hope God uses them to bless, grow and encourage you!

How Would Jesus Surf?

I live right next to Manly beach and I love to surf! I’m also a Christian! So a few days ago when some grommet dropped in on me and I told him off, it got me thinking… HWJS? Or… How Would Jesus Surf?

Well first things first, “even the wind and the waves obey him” (Mk. 4:41), and he could walk on water (Mk. 6:48), so it seems to me he has a somewhat unfair advantage! Imagine the barrel time you could get with that combo!

But what about his character? What kind of a surfer would Jesus be?

How would Jesus respond if someone dropped in on him?
He’d probably call them onto the next wave that was rightfully his as well!

“If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”(Mt. 5:40-41)

Would Jesus hustle for the best position in the line up?
Probably not. I can certainly imagine him getting a couple of rides here and there but my guess is they’d come from the back of the pack and then maybe he’d cop the lucky third in a set as well.

“The last will be first, and the first will be last” (Mt. 20:16)

Would Jesus glare at every other surfer who paddled by?
Probably not. In fact he’d probably be the guy who’s always asking, ‘How’s it gaa’n?’, or ‘Get’n a cupple?’ I can even see him befriending the odd tourist a.k.a. Samaritan if you catch my drift.

“Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (Col. 4:5)

Would Jesus scream in frustration every time he cooked a wave?
Probably not. I can imagine him having the self-control not to yell at the top of his lungs as if the wave were responsible for his rookie mistake.

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (Jas. 1:19-20)

It won’t be easy to surf like Jesus, but as children of God who have his Spirit, I say we give it a go! Now there’s only one more question to ask…

Would Jesus drop in on a bodyboarder?
Yeah I reckon so!

The Bible Style Guide

Ignore the title. Listen to the sub-title. It’s not about style, it’s “a resource for journalists and broadcasters” (and in my opinion one or two others).

The Bible Style Guide (BSG) is the British Bible Society’s latest attempt at protecting journalists, broadcasters, and bloggers from making complete fools of themselves when it comes to talking about the Scriptures. In their own words, “whether you’re covering Creationism or Zionism, or want to know your apostle from your epistle,The Bible Style Guide is here to help you get started.”

The majority of this short 75-page PDF is taken up by an exhaustive A-Z directory of Biblical terms and issues. Some examples of the timely issues the BSG addresses include environmentalism, sexism, science and the Bible, and homosexuality. In addition to these more controversial topics, the BSG also gives helpful definitions of a number of Biblical terms that many of us have heard before but never really understood. Things like the Eucharist, Deuterocanonical, and Pseudepigrapha.

There’s are a few other sections to the BSG that if you can get past the RollingStone-like formatting are relatively helpful. These include topics like ‘How the Bible came together’, ‘Interpreting the Bible’ and ‘Changes to the Biblical Text’.

I’d happily recommend this short PDF to any youth leader having trouble answering some of those trickier questions, or to anyone wanting to widen their biblical vocabulary. It’s a great little resource, and even better- it’s free.

Download the BSG here.

The Kingdom of God, Part III

For the last two days I’ve been tracing the Kingdom of God as it unfolds throughout the Bible. We’ve seen it in the Old Testament and in the ministry of Jesus, and so today I want to finish by taking a quick look at the Kingdom in all its glory- when Jesus hands it over to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24).

Heaven and the fulfillment of the Kingdom

Yesterday we established that the Kingdom of God had arrived with the coming of Jesus. But we also saw that it didn’t exactly look like we expected it to. We seemed to conveniently forget the Old Testament promises of a return to Edenic bliss. For all the fuss about Jesus and the arrival of the Kingdom, you could be forgiven for thinking it was somewhat of an anti-climax!

Thankfully that’s just because we live in the tension of the last days.

To be sure the Kingdom of God has come! It’s come in the sense that the invitations have been sent out, we’ve secured a spot at the table, our tickets have been paid for, but the feast itself is still to come (Mat. 8:11)! The Kingdom of God will only find fulfillment at the end of the age in Heaven. Jesus knew this. The night before his crucifixion he tells his disciples, “I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom” (Mat. 26:29). The Kingdom had arrived, it just hadn’t quite made it through the door.

I think this makes sense of Hell too. People are not so much sent to Hell as they are shut out of the Kingdom. “The subjects of the Kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness” (Matthew 8:12). “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside into the darkness” (Mat. 22:13). “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness” (Mat. 25:30). “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us’” (Lk. 13:25). Those who won’t submit to the King have no place in his Kingdom. An eternity shut out of God’s Kingdom is Hell!

Heaven will be the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, and this time there will be no confusion!

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev. 21:2-4)

And it won’t just be the Kingdom of Israel:

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands…

They are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:9, 15-17)

Jesus says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Rev. 22:20)

The Kingdom of God, Part II

Yesterday I explored the idea of the Kingdom of God as it unfolded in the Old Testament. You may remember that Jeremiah said, “The time is coming…”

Jesus said, “The time has come” (Mk. 1:15)!

Jesus and the coming of the Kingdom

Nothing was more central to the ministry of Jesus than the Kingdom of God. He believed himself to be the Messiah (Jn. 4:26), the “King of the Jews” (Mk. 15:2), sent by God to establish his Kingdom. Everything he did revolved around the Kingdom! His message (Lk. 4:18-21), his miracles (Lk. 11:20) and his feasting (Mat. 9:14-15) were all signs that the Kingdom of God had finally arrived!

It’s just that it hadn’t arrived in the sense that many in Israel were hoping for. What they wanted was liberation from the Romans! What they wanted was peace! What they wanted was prosperity! So they tried to take Jesus and make him king by force (John Jn. 6:15). But in so doing they fell once more into the same trap as their fathers. The Kingdom of God was not the same thing as the Kingdom of Israel, and so Jesus withdrew to the mountains.

The Kingdom he came to establish was, “not of this world” (Jn 18:36). The armies at his disposal were not military men but legions of angels (Mat. 26:53). It’s citizens were not inhabitants of a region but those who did the will of his father (Mat.12:50). And they entered his Kingdom not through birth but re-birth (Jn. 3:3).

Jesus has been given “all authority in heaven and earth” (Mat. 28:18) and now he reigns over a multitude scattered throughout the nations. They recognize his Kingship and submit to him as Lord. They are the universal invisible Church, a people purchased by God with the blood of his Son. The Kingdom of God had finally arrived with the coming of Jesus.

“Really? That’s it? Why doesn’t that feel quite right… are you sure we’re not missing something?”

His disciples thought the same thing. They knew that in Jesus they’d found the King but they couldn’t quite figure out his Kingdom. So after he rose from the dead they asked him, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

Good question. Come back tomorrow for Part III of this article!

The Kingdom of God, Part I

I’ll give you a clue. It’s near (Mk. 1:15), it’s not of this world (Jn. 18:36), it’s like a mustard seed (Mat. 13:31), it’s like treasure hidden in a field (Mat. 13:44), it’s like a merchant looking for fine pearls (Mat. 13:45), and it’s harder for a rich man to enter than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Mat. 18:25).

It’s the Kingdom of God.

But what exactly is the Kingdom of God? Let’s take a quick trip back into the history of the Israelites and find out.

Israel and the dream of the Kingdom

The history of the Israelites is a familiar story for anyone who’s been through Sunday School. God chooses a random guy named Abraham and out of the blue promises to bless him, give him a name, some land, and to make his descendents into a great nation (Gen. 12:2, 15:18). A few hundred years go by and hey presto- Abraham’s got millions of descendents but they’re all slaves in Egypt. Things aren’t going great.

But then God steps in and saves his people out of slavery, gives them his law, and settles them in a new land. Thus begins the notion of the Kingdom of God: a people belonging to God who live under his rule and submit to him as king. It was a dream for a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:8) where Israel was a mighty nation (Gen. 12:2). Where God would defend them from their foes (Num 23:21-24), where he would make them great (Num. 23:9-10), and he would enable them to live in unimagined peace and plenty (Gen. 49:25-26) until the divinely sent leader showed up and won the allegiance of the nations (Gen. 49:10). They had a destiny to serve God’s purposes in the world (Gen 12:3)!

Now admittedly there was a stage in Israel’s history where some believed the Kingdom of God had already come. Under the leadership of King David’s they went from being a loose confederation of tribes to a respectable and united Kingdom within the space of a few years. But it was only a matter of time before they realised that the Kingdom of Israel was not the same thing as the Kingdom of God, and that God was under no obligation to protect them from their enemies. And so in judgement of their blatant idolatry, God banished his people into exile.

However it was during this time that the remnant of Israel began to long for a time when God would vindicate them and finally bring about his Kingdom on earth. They longed for a return to the golden era of King David, when they were a united people living and prospering under God’s appointed King. And so in his mercy God sent prophets to satisfy the longings of his people and give them a vision of his future Kingdom:

Isaiah prophecies about the King who would bring in the Kingdom,

“For to us a child is born
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Jeremiah speaks of the new relationship between God and men in the Kingdom,

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 32:36-41)

And again, Isaiah depicts the Kingdom as a return to Edenic bliss:

“The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:5-9)

God had not forgotten them. He was still going to send his King to bring about the Kingdom, but he would do it in his timing!

And so they waited…

Come back tomorrow for Part II of this article.