Chosen by God

In a crazy, unexpected, surprising (but welcomed) left turn, the group of folks that I’ve been doing Doubt Night with have agreed to study through the book of Romans with me. One of the nights led to a conversation about predestination, and so now we’re pausing our discussion through Keller’s book and will take a few weeks to study Romans. How cool is that!

In preparation for that, I’m reading R.C. Sproul’s Chosen by God. It’s a highly accessible, easy-to-understand read about predestination. Anyway, I was immediately arrested by a paragraph from the introduction where Sproul talks about his journey towards reformed theology. My own experience resonates with a bunch of what he described.

The ninth chapter of Romans was the clincher. I simply could find no way to avoid the Apostle’s teaching in that chapter. Reluctantly, I sighed and surrendered, but with my head, not my heart. ‘OK, I believe this stuff, but I don’t have to like it!’

I soon discovered that God created us so that the heart is supposed to follow the head. I could not, with impunity, love something with my head that I hated in my heart. Once I began to see the cogency of the doctrine and its broad implications, my eyes were opened to the graciousness of grace and to the grand comfort of God’s sovereignty. I began to like the doctrine little by little, until it burst upon my soul that the doctrine revealed the depth of the riches of the mercy of God.

I no longer feared the demons of fatalism or the ugly thought that I was being reduced to a puppet. Now I rejoiced in a gracious Savior who alone was immortal, invisible, the only wise God.

They say there is nothing more obnoxious than a converted drunk. Try a converted Arminian. Converted Arminians tend to become flaming Calvinists, zealots for the cause of predestination. You are reading the work of such a convert… Chosen by God, p. 13.

Is Mercy Ultimately a Form of Injustice?

Are you a fan of philosophy? Apologetics? Riddles? Then I would love to hear you weigh in on this one. I could use your help.

Last night, we had Doubt Night at Starbucks. We talked about Keller’s fifth chapter, How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell? In making the point that God can be both full of love and full of wrath, both a God of mercy and a God of judgment, and that love will actually necessitate wrath/judgment/justice (for which loving person can see injustice and not rightfully be angry and demand justice?), one of the participants posed an interesting argument.

He said that if God is just, completely just, just through and through, then the substitutionary death of Jesus in the place of guilty sinners is actually injustice. His argument was that justice demands that the guilty be punished. If God were to be completely just, then every human being should go to Hell. By sending Jesus, my friend felt that God was bending the rules (which he is happy to concede that God is allowed to do) or was working from a different definition of justice than the one we know.

I told him that I agreed that were God to be just towards human beings, they should go to Hell. However God chose to show mercy in sending Jesus, and mercy is not the same thing as injustice. I used the illustration below (adapted from R.C. Sproul’s Chosen by God).

Essentially you have justice and non-justice (everything that is the opposite of justice). With justice goes judgment. But within non-justice, you have two sub-categories: mercy and injustice. For example, say I were driving down the road beyond the speed limit and a cop pulled me over and wrote me a ticket that I could not afford. There are three things that could happen.

a. Justice would mean that I get judgment. I get brought to court and punished for my crime.

b. Injustice would mean that cop lets me drive away with no consequences since he has no regard for the law.

c. Mercy is different. Mercy is the friend sitting in the passenger seat next to me who pays for my crime. Or better, mercy is the cop himself paying the ticket for me. That is not injustice; that is mercy. The law has been satisfied – only not by me, but by one who in mercy took my place.

My example may have been poor and not everyone was not satisfied. For my friend, mercy was ultimately a form of injustice. In fact, he would go far enough to define every act of mercy, however good it may be, a form of injustice. Absolute justice necessitates that the guilty pay for their crime. No exceptions. He called mercy a loophole. Granted, he said that he completely wanted to live in that kind of a world. He was all for the idea of mercy, and being merciful, and even would want a God who was merciful – but felt that mercy was essentially injustice. He said, after all, what if every murderer and rapist found someone willing to take their place – would that be satisfactory?

So, I guess my question is, is he right? Is there room for mercy in absolute justice? Can God be absolutely just and yet be merciful?

What am I missing here?

Farewell to some dear friends

Church planting means that you’re constantly meeting, befriending, welcoming new people. But those on the front lines will tell you that you’re also saying goodbye a ton. The statistic is crazy – something like that 80% of who you begin with won’t be there soon after you launch. That sounds terribly high and I hope I’m wrong. But it does mean that you’re probably going to have to learn to say goodbye almost as much as you learn to say hello.

We had to do that this Sunday. We had to say goodbye to some dear friends. Fortunately, it was the good kind (meaning this wasn’t the result of division, or malice, or sin), but it’s tough nonetheless. Bobby, Sumy, and their precious baby girl Eden have been with us for a while. Some six years ago, Bobby was a part of the first prayer-discussion meeting we ever had that eventually led to Seven Mile Road. He and Sumy have been a huge part of our community and good friends for Shainu and me. I remember describing them to my church planting coach as “perfect.” They give generously, they serve quietly and joyfully, they love God and love people, they follow, they pray, they’re humble….they’re just perfect.

We had been praying as a community for several months that God would provide Bobby with a job. God answered our prayer. Except this job is about 2.5 hours from where we were hoping. I’m kidding. The job is a dream for Bobby, exactly what he was hoping for, and in this economy to boot. The job will allow Sumy to stay at home and be a mom to Eden. We’ll miss them deeply, but in a bunch of ways, it’s a blessing and an answer to prayer. And so on Sunday, our small community celebrated the grace God has shown us through our dear friends, and we asked the Lord to bless them with a new community in Maryland where they could love and be loved by His people.

For Men: A Hard but Good Word

Below is a hard but good and necessary word about men and marriage. Hard hearts need hard words. The sermon was preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (a brother in the A29 Network that we’re connected with). Brothers, I pray that it would cut your heart like it did mine, and produce repentance and faith so that we might love our wives like Jesus loves the Church and love our children like the Father loves us.

Serving at Seven Mile Road : Anne Dietrich, Nursery

Below is an entry by Anne Dietrich. Anne will be serving Seven Mile Road by leading all things concerning our nursery. Anne reflects on how she got to Seven Mile Road and her hopes for the days ahead.

I recently found a scrap of paper dated 5-17-08 from last summer when I had gone to Boston to visit my sister Katie.  On it were notes I had scribbled to myself about the sermon that some pastor name Jay had preached.  I laughed when I realize the notes were from Ajay! It’s hard to believe that only a year ago I barely knew about 7 mile road and Shainu and Ajay.  Today, what a central component of my life the church has become.

Throughout college I had hopped from church to church looking for one that fit my needs and me.  There were some really good ones but I wanted to find a place that I was a part.  Where someone would notice if I were gone, where I could participate more than just worshiping and sitting quietly during the sermon.  I wanted something like Katie’s church.

The summer before my senior year she told me how Ajay and Shainu were moving to Philly to start this church plant.  I thought that it sounded cool, but how awkward it would be for me not knowing them just up and trying to be a part.  Anyway, I was interested enough to get in touch with Shainu when I got back to school after the summer.  She was sooo inviting to me, I felt like an instant friend not only to her but also to the entire church planting team. Then when I heard Ajay preach about his convictions for what this church was to be about I was sold.

Community, I had been searching for this.  Mission, I have always had a heart for social justice and I love the city.  Since I was young I have felt called to it and for some reason I had never considered Philly, but as I thought more it seemed to fit. And the third component he spoke about was the Gospel, Jesus. This may sound silly coming from someone who has been a Christian since I can remember but Jesus was always the hard part for me.  The part I didn’t understand, the part of faith I was missing.  In college I had an epiphany that social justice is nothing without Jesus.  And with the help of 7mile and others, Jesus has become so real to me, Jesus is it, everything in creation points to him.

I got involved in 7mile as much as I could and as graduation neared and I tried to figure out plans for the future. Shainu and Ajay encouraged me to stay. I felt lame staying in the area I had gone to school and not doing something like traveling or a missions program – but I felt even lamer moving home.  (Not that there is anything wrong with that it was just a personal taboo to me.) I just couldn’t bear to leave it now, the friends I had made, I felt like the church was really just getting started, how could I leave now? I also felt like I had talents or just things about me that made it a good fit.  I was different and had something to offer but also much to learn.  This seemed like a good opportunity and a good environment to grow in.

At this point I have gotten involved with childcare by leading the nursery. I am looking forward to the start of more Soulcare groups and I am really interested in getting involved in some kind of mercy ministry. God worked out me staying so beautifully, providing a job for me at Starbucks and a place with roommates to live with.  So I will be staying here at least until next May and am excited to see what God has in store for each of us and in the church.  It is always awe inspiring to look at all that takes place in only a year.  It should move us to praise.

A Great Resource

Seven Mile Road has been working through a study called Gospel-Centered Life. It has been priceless in sowing gospel DNA into the core of our plant. We’ve talked a lot about being individuals and a community centered on the gospel and this study has helped to make that jargon more accessible and practical. It’s dirt cheap, available online, and I highly recommend it to you.

Suffering, Universalism, Exclusivity, Election – all at Starbucks

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Sometimes I wish I could bring you in on some of the conversations we have at Doubt Night. So here’s a recount of some from our last one. These aren’t exact quotes or in exact sequence – but an abbreviated version of an hour and half conversation by my best memory a week later. Also names other than mine have been changed.

Ajay: Here’s a quote by Epicurus, an ancient Greek thinker.

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”

So what do you guys think? Has the presence of suffering been an obstacle for you in terms of faith? What has been your experience with suffering?

(Good conversation with each of us talking about feeling like we’ve been sheltered from suffering, but have known people who have been deeply and painfully acquainted with it. Talked about how suffering does not disprove God – for God can allow suffering for reasons we may not presently understand. Basically talked through Keller’s argument from chapter 2 of Reason for God.)

George: The way I see it is that God is like a chess player. He is able to sacrifice pawns and pieces, but it’s okay because in the end he wins and the pieces will be a part of his victory. If he’s God, he can do whatever he wants. He will win. And even though each piece suffers, they will enjoy in his victory later.

Ajay: You mean through resurrection or in the afterlife?

George: Yeah.

Ajay: George, I actually agree with you and your analogy. But probably for different reasons, cause we’re usually on two different pages.

George: (laughs) Yeah probably. See I think that suffering is okay, because we’ll all be in heaven afterward. Everyone. That’s the only way its fair or makes sense. Each piece can be sacrificed because each piece will be in heaven.

Ajay: Everyone? Like the rapist, Hitler, the serial murderer, everyone?

George: Yeah, everyone.

Ajay: Then what do you do with evil and where is justice?

George: I don’t think there is evil. (Talks for a bit about how you could argue that there is no ‘cold’ but rather the absence of heat. Likewise, there is no evil, but the absence of good. Also how when you look back on something, like a test or trial, it may have seemed bad, but turns out to have been something different – even beneficial.)

Ajay: I agree that looking back on a horrible event, you may be able to see good as a result of it. I do believe that God is able to work good from evil. But that doesn’t remove the fact that the event itself was evil. Like rape, murder – that stuff is evil – even if good can come from it. And George, there’s a contradiction. You don’t want to believe in evil or injustice, but it is a sense of evil or injustice that has you going down the road of universalism. You think everyone has to go to heaven, cause otherwise that would be ‘bad’ or ‘injust’ or ‘evil’ and yet you also want to maintian that there is no such thing as injustice or evil.

(One of the coolest things has been how humble and amicable everyone has been. We have intense disagreements, but in a spirit of peace. George displayed this by admitting that there does seem to be a contradiction in his thought.)

Jenny: I’ve been thinking about this stuff since the last time we talked. Some of the stuff George said has stuck with me. And the way that I’ve justified it all to myself is that Jesus is true for me – but He may not be true for everyone else. I just don’t see how so many of my good friends who are Hindu or Muslim will go to hell.

Sarah: This is what I think. I think we Christians believe in one God. The Muslims believe in one God. The Hindus have thousands, but really its one God. I think its all the same God.

(some more conversation about these ideas)

Ajay:  You see you think you’re being humble by letting everyone come to heaven. But your heaven is a very Christian idea. There are several religions that don’t believe in heaven or an afterlife, and certainly not one with Jesus. And so, though it appears humble to say that everyone will be in heaven with you, you are imposing your view of the afterlife on them. Its like you want to take one part of your religion, put it on everyone, but maintain that it is the most humble way. You want to take heaven from the Scriptures, but leave out the means of getting there from the same Scriptures.

And I think we need to establish what the Christian gospel is, so that if we’re poking holes, we’re poking holes at the same thing. (For five minutes or so, I shared the Gospel – a good God, a good creation, sin, the depravity of all men, the impossibility of reaching God through effort or “good deeds”, the need for a God-man to be Savior, Jesus alone being the only subsitute for sin and the only way to God.)

Jenny: When you say it like that, it makes sense.

George: You talk about Jesus and all that, but you’re leaving out one part. And that is that God has already chosen who gets to come to him and who doesn’t. You haven’t talked about predestination. How is that fair?

Ajay: (Deep breath….oh boy! I talked about how this is not an easy idea, and that there is some mystery to it, etc) Here’s one shot at it. Say you three, George, Jenny, and Sarah – say you are horrific murderers who have committed terrible crimes and are justly going to receive the death sentence. And say, I say to Sarah – I’m going to take your place. That’s grace. And you two, George and Jenny – you can’t say that you’re getting something unfair – you’re getting what you deserve. But I am choosing to show grace to Sarah.

George: That is unfair. Especially when you have the power to pardon all three!

Jenny: Yeah. I get that you deserve death – but choosing one and not the others is unfair.

George: See, you don’t have an answer. It’s a contradiction. How can hell be the most horrible thing in the world – like it would be better to not be born than go to hell – then why would God create people who he knows are going to hell? There is no answer. You don’t have an answer and I don’t have answer. We’re both right.

Ajay: (Hopefully you see that these conversations have been good and intense and dizzing) I think there is an answer, but you just won’t like it.

George: There is no answer. It’s a contradiction.

Ajay: I think there is an answer, but you won’t like it. Romans 9 tells us that God is going to be glorified in both the wrath shown to some and the mercy shown to others. In both, God will be glorified.

Sarah: (Troubled) Wait a minute. Are you saying that everything is about God’s glory?

Ajay: (Wow. Pause.) Yeah. That’s what I’m saying. It’s all about God’s glory.

Jenny: That sounds so bad – like how can God be like that?

Ajay: I can imagine how unsettling that sounds. And we won’t be able to say everything tonight. But just one thought. Since you were little, you were taught that the highest pursuit of your life was to glorify God. (Everyone in the conversation comes from a Christian background) If you assume that’s true, that the chief end of man is to glorify God – why would it be something else for God? (sounding very Piperesque) If God is the most glorious being, and it is right for us to glorify Him – why would He in turn have his chief end in glorifying us and not Himself?

————————————

There was more conversation. We decided we’re going to skip ahead in Keller’s book and go to “How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?”. After that, we’re going to hit pause on Keller’s book and look at Romans 9 together. In talking about this, a friend told me that Paul puts Romans 9 where he does in the letter on purpose. That jumping into election without first talking about the sin and depravity of man, the glory of God, the impossibility of saving yourself, and the need for Christ is probably not a good idea. Until you see how glorious God is, how sinful you are and worthy of condemnation, and how much you need Jesus (Romans 1-8) election will seem like a travesty and not grace. So I’m going to try to see if they would be up for an abbreviated study of Romans, leading to chapter 9.

I drove home dizzy from the night. I love that this conversation is happening at Starbucks. I love that we leave each night  and walk to our cars laughing and not in animosity. I am deeply, deeply, deeply humbled. When we started I was so sure that all people needed to come running to faith in Jesus was my clever arguments with the help of Keller’s apologetics. I drove home repenting of my pride and arrogance. Regeneration is a miracle accomplished by God alone. A miracle is what it takes for the Gospel to go from being an offensive stumbling block to good news. Praying for a miracle.

Planting Seven Mile Road and Preaching at St. Marks

For about five months now, the folks at Seven Mile Road stopped meeting in homes and have been meeting in a classroom at St. Marks Church – a church here in Northeast Philadelphia. St. Marks is predominantly an elderly congregation. At the turn of the last century, St. Marks had a large, thriving church with the largest Sunday School in Philadelphia. Today, the church is facing some difficult decisions and is in a major season of transition. Further, their pastor (who has been a friend to 7MR) is retiring at the end of this month adding to the uncertainty regarding the future.

As you can imagine, uncertainty for St. Marks meant some uncertainty for Seven Mile Road – at least in terms of whether we would continue to meet in that space. One of the most encouraging things about this whole deal was the resoluteness of the folks on our team. Nobody panicked. Nobody worried. Nobody got angry. Nobody gave up. Instead, all the time, people talked about not worrying, and trusting God, and believing that God would provide.

And He has.

This last week, St. Marks Church asked if I would fill their pulpit from July till December. I’m sure there’s plenty of details to work out as we go, but here’s the basic deal. Seven Mile Road will continue to plant out of the space at St. Marks for the next six months. In exchange for letting us freely use the property for worship and missional endeavors, we’ll be doing work like painting their classrooms and I’ll be preaching at their service.

What happens after December? I don’t know yet. But we’re trying to walk through doors as the Lord opens them and trust that He’ll keep leading the way.

You can praise God with us. Who knows what the Lord will do over the next six months? I’m excited about planting Seven Mile Road. I’m excited for the missional potential the property at St. Marks affords. Preaching at St. Marks has become an unexpected but welcomed part of that call.

You can also pray for us. Pray that God would empower me for this task and that it would not be done at the expense of my wife, my family, my joy, or the church that God has called me to plant. Pray for our team that we would be unified and that being at St. Marks for six more months would give us a season to grow and mature. And pray for the people of St. Marks. Pray that this coming season would be a blessing for them and that whatever they decide to do afterwards would be for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

The Key to Reading the Bible

Just read this today and loved it…

Responsible interpretation and application of any biblical text does not begin with the question “How do I apply this passage to my life?” but with “How does this passage connect to the great narrative of redemption which climaxes in the gospel, the story of Christ, and his people?”

Launch Team Members Forum

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Last week, we had our first ever Launch Team Members Forum at Seven Mile Road. A long while back, after one of our Members Meetings in Boston, I had written about my hope that the unity I experienced in Boston would be present at Seven Mile Road Philly. This first forum was a good step in that direction.

On Thursday evening, a handful of our Launch Team Covenant Members gathered together, shared a meal, and began our time in prayer.  As this was our first shot at doing this, I opened the meeting by explaining Seven Mile Road’s ecclesiology and what it meant practically to be elder led with congregational involvement.

Our first conversation was about calling Anne Deitrich and Dennis Mathew to servant leadership roles at Seven Mile Road Church.  We talked about how there are only two Biblical offices at Seven Mile Road Church – deacons and elders/pastors. These are spiritual offices of leadership that the Bible calls for and lays out the qualifications for those who would fill them. Anne and Dennis are not being called as either pastors or deacons. Rather, they are serving as support/staff/volunteers/something-like-that.  With excitement, the members present received both Anne and Dennis into these roles. Anne will be leading the Nursery Ministry at the church and Dennis will be serving with administration. I’m so excited to have these guys serving in the life of Seven Mile.

We spent some time talking through our budget for 2009. Right now Seven Mile Road runs like my home – we do everything real cheap and spend as little as possible (which is certainly not always a good thing). We talked about needing to be good stewards of God’s money in both giving and spending. Conversations about money can cause a pastor’s palms to sweat and heart to race. This wasn’t like that. It was about as sweet and simple as you could get. And finally, we talked about our ongoing relationship with St. Marks Church where we meet on Sundays. We’ll be looking to serve them as they have been serving us with their space.

We closed with a time of corporate prayer where we earnestly sought God about the coming season at Seven Mile Road. Many of us have joked about church body meetings that we’ve been a part of in the past. It’s so common for these gatherings to be filled with disunity, teams, factions, slander, anger, and a bunch of other stuff that disgraces Christ. And yet, through no quality of our own, but by His grace, our Forum was flooded with unity, excitement, participation, laughter, love, and prayer. Thanks be to God. Excited about this next season.