The verdict is finally in…I’ve used The Lord of the Rings for illustrative purposes one too many times at BBC. The last college assembly of the semester before Christmas break is an opportunity for the school family to gather together for an hour of laughs (most often at the expense of professors). Well, the picture below was part of a segment where the student body was given dvd recommendations for Christmas break viewing. How was this spectacular photo introduced to the college family? “Coming out on dvd this Christmas: The Lord of the Rings with Dan Cruver playing every character!”

-Main-

No one has challenged my thinking on the gospel and life quite like Tim Keller has the past few years. I am extremely thankful to God for Tim’s writing and preaching ministry. Below are the first few paragraphs from several of his most recent Vision Campaign articles. Just click on each article title if you want to read the article in its entirety.

Article One: THE GOSPEL: KEY TO CHANGE

The Greek term “gospel” (ev-angelion) distinguished the Christian message from that of other religions. An ‘ev-angel’ was news of a great historical event, such as a victory in war or the ascension of a new king, that changed the listeners’ condition and required a response from the listener. So the gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God. What is this news?

God has entered the world in Jesus Christ to achieve a salvation that we could not achieve for ourselves which now 1) converts and transforms individuals, forming them into a new humanity, and eventually 2) will renew the whole world and all creation. This is the ‘good news’—the gospel. And it is good news in three important ways…

Article Two: THE CITY: WHY WE’RE HERE

Fundamental to Redeemer’s vision is the belief that there is no better place for Christians to live, work, serve, and spend their lives and resources than in the city. Why?

The gospel originally grew in and through the city. The Pax Romana (27BC-180AD) led to the growth of the first multi-ethnic, global cities. Travel was easier than it ever had been and ever would be again until the 19th century. Nationalities that had been at war with one another were now at ‘peace’ under the iron rule of Rome. Cities became multi-cultural and the hub of international networks of capital and information—essentially, city-states. For example, Antioch was really a United Nations, with a Asian, African, Jewish, Greek, and Roman sections. Capital and culture flowed back and forth from Antioch to three continents through urban-based networks…

Article Three: BUILDINGS FOR COMMUNITY

The cruciality of community

On the night before his death (John 13ff), Jesus said that the purpose of his death was to form a new community. His disciples were to become a new humanity which was to be a ‘demonstration plot’ of the kingdom of God. In their relationships to one another, and in the way they related together to the rest of the world, they were to be a sign that Jesus is the Lord who is going to redeem all of creation. Christian community is a comprehensive and distinct way to be human in
deep relationship with others who have been transformed by the gospel.

The quality of our community is the real secret of Christian mission. When those outside see exceptional community it convinces them of the truth of Jesus’ message, and it attracts them personally toward joining those who follow him. In John 17:23 Jesus says that via Christians’ loving unity ‘the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved me.’

In addition, the quality of our community is the real secret of Christian growth…

Article Four: WHY NEW CHURCHES?

Church planting lies at the foundation of Redeemer’s vision. Why?

1. Christ-formation in an individual happens best not through programs, but through a local church. Evangelism aims to get people to make a decision to follow Christ. Experience, however, shows us that many of these ‘decisions’ disappear and never result in changed lives. Why? Many decisions are not really thorough spiritual conversions, but often only the beginning of a journey of seeking God. (Other decisions are very definitely the moment of a ‘new birth,’ but this differs from person to person.) Many people come to full faith through a process of mini-decisions. Only a person who is hearing the gospel in the context of an on-going worshipping and shepherding community can be sure of finally coming home into vital, saving faith…

Article Five: THE FULLNESS OF MINISTRY

From Redeemer’s understanding of the gospel and commitment to the city (paper’s #1 and #2) flows an unusually balanced and full understanding of the ministry of every local congregation. We call them the Five Ministry Fronts. It is difficult to stay equally engaged along each of these fronts, but we believe that we must stay committed to all five or we will become unbalanced.

1. Churches must be “outward facing.” First, churches must be highly effective in helping skeptical and secular people to find faith. It is not enough to only reach already conservative and traditional-minded people. The gospel (unlike religious moralism) produces people who do not disdain those who disagree with them. Rather than simply confront those who disbelieve, the gospel leads us to sympathetically, but effectively, find ways to answer secular cultural hopes and aspirations with Christ and his saving work…

Article Six: CHRISTIANS AND CULTURE

A society’s ‘culture’ is a set of shared practices, attitudes, values, and beliefs which are rooted in common understandings of ‘the big questions’—where life comes from, what life means, who we are, and what is important to spend our time doing in the years allotted to us. No one can live without some assumed answers to these questions, and every set of answers shapes culture:

• the way we treat the material world,
• the way we relate the individual to the group and family,
• the way groups and classes relate to one another,
• the way we handle sex, money, and power,
• the way we make decisions and set priorities, and the way we regard death, time, art, government, and physical space…

Article Seven: Creation, Fall, Redemption—and Your Money

The Bible sees the history of the world in four stages—1) Creation by God, 2) Fall into sin, 3) Redemption through Christ, and 4) Final Restoration–the new heaven and new earth. But creation-fall-redemption-restoration are not just discrete stages in time, they are also different aspects of present reality. Put another way, when we look at any object in this world, we know three things about it:

• First, it is part of God’s good creation, yet,
• Second, it is fallen and affected by sin—distorted somehow, broken, falling short of its original
purpose. But,
• Third, it is being, and can be, redeemed. The purpose of God is to wipe all creation clean of all
the effects of sin until it is all restored to wholeness, beauty, and glory. This is the basis of the Christian worldview. If you miss any these three perspectives, you have a distorted view of reality…

Do you think I’ve illustrated one too many times from The Lord of the Rings? I caught a student of mine posting this picture on the bulletin board outside my office the day I returned from missing a day of teaching (make sure you read the words at the bottom of the pic).

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that says to me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

This is one of the scariest verses in all of scripture – especially when it is interpreted with no special regard for the whole of scripture. These words were spoken to the multitudes (including the disciples) by Jesus in His “sermon on the mount.” Warnings about false prophets precede this verse and of course, Christ frequently had biting words for the scribes and Pharisees. So these sorts of people tend to be the ones we think of when we read this verse. But let’s look at how those closest to Jesus interpreted these chilling words.

In Luke 22:21 Jesus and the disciples are gathered at the last supper and He says, “the hand of him that will betray me is with me on the table.” In other words, “One of you who has been calling me Lord, Lord for the last three years is going to betray Me tonight.” Their reaction deserves some reflection, “.. they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.” Now that’s not so hard to believe in itself, though we might expect that they would more readily tend to suspect someone outside their group. But Mark records that they even began to look to themselves as suspects. “And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?” ( Mark 14:19). This is remarkable in at least two respects:

First, it’s remarkable that the disciples apparently recognized within themselves the capacity for betrayal. Though they still had over-inflated opinions of there own importance (Luke 22:24, Which of us will be greatest in your kingdom?), there was sufficient awareness of their own hearts’ condition that they would look within and see the capacity for such appalling self-deceit. While we may loathe Judas and any who take up his mantle, how honest are we in our self-assessment? We believe we have studied to show ourselves approved and done all these good works in His Name, yet when Jesus quietly, piercingly tells us that there are betrayers in our midst, do we honestly look within and tremble as we acknowledge that potential? Is our first response to flee to Jesus and plead His blood or, like the Pharisees, do we broaden our phylacteries and widen our hems and thank God that we are not like the publicans and sinners, who obviously are the betrayers?

What is more remarkable to me is that the disciples didn’t instantly suspect Judas. The name “Judas” has become synonymous with betrayal and deceit and corruption and greediness and carnality. No one (that I know of) names their child Judas. Maybe a pet cat or weasel, but not a child! From what little we now know on this side of history, we presume that Judas was the quintessential, self-serving used-car salesman and as easy to pick out of a crowd as they are in their plaid suit coats and loud ties. But the reaction of the disciples tells a different story – each of them considered themselves as capable of such treachery as Judas. There is no evidence anywhere in scripture that Judas was singled out by the disciples as the culprit. He was just another disciple – learning, growing, impetuous, trying, failing, fumbling, fickle, weak… just like all the rest. It can reasonably be assumed from Matthew 17 that all the disciples must have been given power to do miracles. If Judas had been excluded, doubts and questions would have flooded the minds of the remaining disciples, especially Peter. I can just hear him asking, “Lord, what’s the deal with Judas? Why can’t he do any of this miracle stuff? Is there maybe something fishy going on with him?” Isn’t it amazing that those who walked with Jesus and would later comprise the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20) were unable to differentiate between the true worshippers of God and those who were wolves in sheep’s clothing?

How quick are we to identify what we perceive to be the Judases in our circles? When betrayal and deceit are the sermon topics, do we bow in humble acknowledgement of the Jeremiah 17:9ness of our own hearts or do we immediately begin pointing and asking, “Is it him? Is it her? Is it them? Where are they Lord, I’ll take care of ‘em for you!”

For those who have been predestined from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), who have been called and justified (Rom. 8:30), who have been given the down payment of their inheritance (Eph.1:13-14) in the Spirit to empower them and the Word to equip them, who have heard the sayings of Jesus and done them (Matt. 7:24), who have experienced the transforming promise that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6), to these awaits the warm welcome of Him who became sin (though he Himself never sinned) for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21). He says, Welcome! I have always known you and I set my affection on you (Eph. 1:4-6). I have pursued you (Hosea) and drawn you to myself and made you alive so you could respond (Eph. 2:1-2). While the weakness of your flesh made you groan along with the rest of the sin-cursed creation (Rom. 8:22-23), my love eventually won you over. Now you are eternally set free from the curse, both your spirit and your body (Rev. 21:4, 22:3). Now enter into my joy, full and overflowing (I Pet. 1:7-9).
I know you!

*Rudy is a pilot and was an elder where I was formally a pastoral staff member (he’s also a good friend).
Check out his wife’s calligraphy here.