Glory in the cross

Paul wanted the focus of his preaching to be the cross of Christ. To that end, he made sure that he didn't employ the pop-wisdom and oratorical flourishes that attracted audiences and built reputations in his time (1 Cor 1:17; 2:1; Gal 6:14).

Would it be reasonable to equate Corinthian pop-wisdom and oratorical flourishes with the media production values being prescribed for today's pulpits? Is it to be the lights of Broadway or the light that shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day (Prov 4:18), which enlightens the narrow way (Matt 7:13-14), the only way to truth and life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)?

Nice piece on worship

Here's a nice reflection on analyzing worship.



Dale

Getting it Wrong: Part 3

My comments on the earlier two blogs on this theme have pretty much stated my argument, but I'll put it in a brief form here:

There is indeed a reciprocal relationship between worship and missions; as Piper says, "Worship is the fuel and goal of missions." But worship is ultimate and eternal, whereas evangelism is not. When we talk of worship being the goal of missions, we reflect a rich biblical strain of thought, running from the Psalmist's calls, "Let the nations be glad" (e.g., Ps 67:3-4; 69:32; 70:4; 86:9; 97:1; 102:22; 117:1), to the apostles' awareness that the root of the apostolic call was in worship (Matt 19:29; Acts 9:16; 21:13; Rom 1:5; 9:17; 10:13; 3 John 6-7).

It's also useful to note that missionary thrust of the prayer Jesus taught is missionary-disciples: May your name be sanctified/honored/cherished and honored above any other name (Matt 6:9).

This assertion of the priority of worship over evangelism seems to me to be essential.

• Reversing the priorities has the potential to do severe damage to the evangelistic cause, as modern American church history has shown when churches lose the real divine cause and allow missions to lapse into merely humanitarian effort.

• Missions that are not driven by the glory of God can only be driven by some human impulse, whether it's vague humanitarianism or merely a guilty, patronizing, and condescending attempt help the developing world.

Now, after making that claim, I'm going to use my next blog posting to assert that there is something even more basic and primary that defines the key priority of the church. (Watch this space.)

Getting it Wrong: Part 2

It was interesting how the argument for and against reversing the priorities to put Worship first and Evangelism second played out. On the side for change, the resolution's sponsors provided a brief argument from biblical priorities. On the side for retaining the present order, Stanley Horton attempted a narrow argument from Acts.

But essentially, the argument against promoting Worship to first status and relegating Evangelism to the secondary position ignored Scripture and argued from our own historical documents rather than from Scripture. An emotive tactic, but not one calculated to do anything about clarifying biblical priorities.

In subsequent postings, I'll provide some of my own biblical arguments that Worship is clearly a priority over Evangelism. I'll invite comments in advance as to how you think I'll argue this case.

And in the end, I'll even argue that there's an even more compelling number-one priority that transcends even Worship or Evangelism as the church's chief priority. What do you think I'll see as the most elemental priority of the church?

Getting it Wrong: Part 1

In the previous blog, I asserted that the AG got it right in a vote at this month's General Council.

This blog asserts that another vote got it wrong. A resolution called for the AG to reorder its priorities to reflect a more biblical order. Presently, the order is 1. Evangelism and 2. Worship. The resolution argued that 1. Worship and 2. Evangelism would reflect a more biblical order of priorities.

The General Council voted this down. But the resolution was spot on and its rejection is clearly misguided.

I'll make my argument in subsequent blog postings.