I may have a new crush…
Ok, I don’t have a REAL crush on anyone but my beautiful wife of 10+ years…but it would safe to say that I have a growing affection for a bald, 55 yr old pastor who lives in New York. Tim Keller is the lead pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, New York and he happens to be really smart, well spoken, theologically astute, and a great writer.
Our guys small group that meets on thursday nights just finished a book of his entitled “The Prodigal God” which is a refreshing and insightful read on the classic parable of Jesus about the prodigal son. He has also written a New York Times best seller entitled “The Case for God” which I have not read, but will be ordering soon.
In doing some research on the “missional church” I ran across a series of YouTube videos that I’m going to try to post that I thought were very provocative and interesting. I would be interested to hear your thoughts as they are posted.
I think Keller is on to something. I like the idea of conversation not offending people at the same time as not being confused about our beliefs. Paul said that we need to be all things to all people so that some might be saved, and I think this is an example of this. People cannot be saved (or we make it more difficult anyway) if they are offended by what we say or do and we alienate them from the Gospel. People also cannot be saved if we they are confused as to what the Gospel is or what it looks like to follow Jesus.
Jesus said that He came to divide, not unite. (Luke 12) I think many time Christians use a passage like this to justify their judgment on people. I have a sneaky suspicion though that Jesus was reserving that right for Himself, not for us. Following Keller’s idea of “not offending” and “not confusing”, if we live that way, Jesus can still do the dividing with those that reject Him. We can still love and empathize with struggles people (Christians and non-Christians) have in the here and now. Thoughts?
[On a side note, I think it is interesting the clip is about Christians being accessible and this missional and not using “Evangelical sub-culture jargon,” the video ends with “Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World” advertising the DG National Conference. Is it just me, or do those two thoughts not quite align?]
Jack
always thoughtful responses…I thought it was really interesting to entertain the thought of a non-believer attending our small group. how would we change our behavior and actions knowing that someone who attended was not yet a follower of Jesus? I also really dug the part about cultural narratives and the use of the stories that people are living in every day to communicate the gospel.
Spot on with the ending and what Keller was proposing. I think that was pretty much classic irony if I’ve ever seen it.