Our adult Sunday School class has recently gone through the Radical Small Group Study by David Platt.  We were challenged to consider the claims of Jesus and to weigh them against the underlying assumptions about the Christian faith we often bring to the table.  We were particularly stirred about evangelism and the importance of local and global disciple-making.  This came on the heels of a strategic emphasis in our Sunday School classes on “mission” over the last year.  What is our mission as a church and as individual believers?  Beginning with last summer, we did the following:

• Watched the Dispatches from the Front video series and spent time praying for the lost in other countries
• Went through A God-Sized Vision: Stories of Revival that Stretch and Stir by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge
• Made Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer our recommended read in Fall 2012
• Spent the month of January 2013 praying for the lost in our community and around the world, inviting folks to fast each Wednesday and come together in prayer
• Went through the Radical Small Group Study by David Platt in Spring 2013
• Made Radical Together our recommended read for the Spring
• All along, we have been going through the book of Acts and being stirred about the mission of God in the earth

If there’s one thing that has become clear, especially through our study in Acts, it’s that our priorities as believers must be realigned to reflect kingdom-advancing priorities or we’ll have a stalled mission. What does this type of life look like?  Radical certainly raises that question.  David Platt offers a helpful way to think about answering that question:

After writing Radical, I received all kinds of questions and comments about specific facets of the Christian life. People would ask me, “What does a radical lifestyle look like? What kind of car should I drive, or should I even drive a car? What kind of house should I live in? Am I supposed to adopt? Am I supposed to move overseas to a foreign mission field?” I found these questions, though sincere and honest, to be a bit troubling. It felt like people were looking for a box to check or a criterion to follow that would ensure they were obeying God. But such questions, if we’re not careful, bypass the core of what it means to follow Jesus. Outside of the commands of Christ in Scripture, we have no specific set of rules or regulations regarding how the radical commands of Christ apply to our lives. Instead, we have a relationship with Jesus.

We want our mission, which is to make disciples locally and globally, to flow out of a relationship with Jesus.  We don’t want to be motivated by a religious checklist. How has your relationship with Jesus changed the way you plan your calendar, spend your money, take risks, pray for the lost, and love your church?

Excerpt from Sunday’s message “How To Listen to the Gospel” . . .

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
(Ps. 19:7-11)

Six times he uses the phrase “of the Lord,” that is, of Yahweh, Jehovah, the God who says, “I am who I am” and there is no other. The God who created all that is and holds it in being. The God who knows all things that have ever been and that ever will be, and who understands perfectly how everything in the universe works, from galaxies to subatomic energy. This God has spoken with a law, and with testimonies and precepts and commandments.

God understands you better than anyone else. He knows how people got to be the sinners they are and how they are affected by their fallen surroundings. God understands society and groups perfectly. God knows all facts about how the world works. God knows the future and how everything will come out in the end. God is wiser than any wise writer. God is more caring than any counselor. God is more creative than any poet or artist. It simply stands to reason that what God says will be more useful to us than what anyone else in the universe has to say. Not to sit at his feet and soak our minds with his wisdom is sheer craziness if not suicidal.

R.C. Sproul preaches on what it means for Jesus to take the curse of sin and wrath upon himself and die in our place.

 

Here is something we love from Ray Ortlund:

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, healing, revival, because Jesus himself touches us through his truths. Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile. Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.

The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).

The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).

The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).

The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).

The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).

If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts. If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture. But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Click here to read this post on Ray Ortlund’s blog.