Advance13 | Matt Chandler - How Both Faithful and Effective Churches Assume the Gospel

if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab them we'll be in first Corinthians chapter 3 and our time together I'm always I was kind of just marvel in in these moments that we get to do this that we get to be in here and what I mean by that is I was struck as we walk from the hotel over here that there are all these people moving about they're heading back to work or towards work here on a Wednesday afternoon a lot of whom are completely unaware of our savior completely unaware of the grace and mercy of God and yet here we are kind of huddled up in this room as those who have been made aware of the grace and mercy of God be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now I've been given the topic how faithful and fruitful churches assume the gospel now I simultaneously loved and embodied by that title it's a it's a title that I think requires some some real fine-tune fleshing out of what's actually going on there and and I've got my doubts and as I hope 1st Corinthians 3 will show that that that one is possible without the other and I hope that will become more clear as we dive into 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and so 1st Corinthians chapter 3 I'm going to start in verse 1 it says but I brothers could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh as infant's of Christ I fed you with milk not solid food for you or not ready for it and even now you are not ready for you are still of the flesh for while there is jealousy and strife among you are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way now there's a couple of things we need to chat about just right out of the gate and in this verse one is that there's a real kind of clear expectation on the part of the Apostle that we are to mature in our faith and so that there's nothing wrong with being an infant if in fact you are an infant but there is something seriously wrong with acting like an infant when you are not an infant so on February 8 the very friend of our families his wife gave birth to their fourth child Lily Luke live and then Lucy I don't know why you do that to yourself but he did that and we took dinner over there with my three kids I've got a 10 year old a 7 year old and a soon-to-be 4 year old and we sat there and I don't know how to explain maybe you know what it's like when you have that many tenant unders under one roof but anarchy is really the only word that I can come up I mean there's every once in a while like you hear nothing and that makes you nervous you might smell smoke you get interrupted every 6 or 7 seconds and I was I was struck by how distinctively different all our children were in regards to ages and abilities and here's the thing little Lucy it was just a couple of weeks old at the time was doing just what little Lucy should be doing she was eating sleeping and going to the bathroom and nothing else she provided nothing to the conversation that night she didn't get in our way she didn't interrupt she does nothing because she is an infant now when you are an infant that's completely okay but if my ten-year-old was acting like Lucy then we've got problems if my ten-year-old is eating like Lucy eats alright we've got problems we've got a type of developmental retardation that makes the alarm bell sound and and makes specialists get involved to see how to correct what's gone tragically wrong in their development and what Paul is saying is that could only give you milk because you were not mature and now I still can't give you anything but milk because you are still immature and so you've got right out of the gate that this kind of strange brothers that's warm brothers you're still immature and I wish it wasn't so and then he says okay here's the root of or here's how I know you're immature there's jealousy and strife among you now if we don't know this text I can tell you as a pastor where my mind goes okay is this wealthy people and poor people kind of colliding is this different ethnic groups kind of colliding over ways of seeing based on background and where they're from is this what what could be the argument that's marking them as immature well it's honestly it's a bit of a crazy when look at verse four for when one says I follow Paul and another I follow a policy are you not being merely human now here's why I just as soon as I was given this title was drawn to this text in regards to the the topic of faithful versus fruitful oftentimes when you get into this conversation about faithful versus fruitful what ends up happening is you be end up having a lot of dialogue about what to do with big personalities how do you approach big personalities what are you supposed to do with big personalities and and so I love that that you've got some of that here because here's the argument the argument is I follow Paul no I follow a policy and what we know from the Word of God is Paul himself says I'm not wise and persuasive I just have a lot of power you know my handkerchief heals people I can tell people they're not sick I even told to do anyone dead once and then what you have in the scriptures is a Polish being he can bring it all writing stand-up on he can oh he can bring he when he preaches like people gather even though what we find in the book of Acts eases a bit off in what he was saying had to be corrected right and and so you've got what appears to be in the scriptures two different personalities here and you've got this church in Corinth which was really a train wreck of a congregation that ultimately God was doing big things in and they're arguing about whose they are I belong to Paul I belong to a pulse and Paul's take on this is how human are you all right how undivided like is that how ungodly is that how silly is that now I think you've got to do some work there because what we know in the scriptures if you look at Hebrews 11 I think it's perfectly perfectly within the permission of the Word of God for us to have heroes in the faith I've joked for years and I know he's here somewhere but I I took my picture years ago with John Piper and J I Packer I mean just giant granted it hung on my fridge and my wife used to joke with me that I actually look happier in that photo than I did in our wedding pictures and and I just said baby it's a different kind of happy alright you you don't want the same smile in those two all right and so that that's how and I and I believe that that God puts men ahead of me on the journey that I was to look to and to they like that and and we know from the scriptures i would argue from the scriptures that there's nothing wrong with that and even Paul himself who at times would say do it like me follow me as I follow Christ and so you've got to do something here with the fact that he goes oh you're saying you're of Paul you're saying you're of Apollo's how human is that how foolish is that how silly is that so so how do we look at the different personalities and how we are to measure the different personalities and how were to work with those different type of personalities and and it's foolish in any way to exalt a man beyond where he belongs can we agree it's foolish and unhealthy to exalt a man beyond where he belongs and and so Paul's argument is this I am of Paul I am of Apollo's is foolish it's childish it's it's infantile it is ultimately erroneous and how they're interacting in fact it's caused strife and it's caused discord and so why would it be foolish to view these men in this way well let's let's keep looking at the text picking it up in verse 5 what then is a palace what is Paul servants through whom you believe has the Lord assigned to each I planted Apollo's watered but God gave the growth so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth for he who plants and he who waters our one and each will receive his wages according to his labor for we are God's fellow workers you are God's field God's building so I think there are three things here that help us with the personality problem and so here we go number one all ministers all ministers regardless of gifting or placement because you saw that in the text that a pollen and assignment by God and Paul was given an assignment by God and what we can kind of infer from what was already been said and what will be said laterz that they weren't exactly the same assignment so you've got men that given different abilities different gifts and asked to do different things by God but what we see here is that all ministers regardless of gifting placement and assignment are first and foremost servants of God so here's what I have in common with any Herald err of the gospel of Jesus Christ we're gonna be in most of us different locations I'm guessing not there's not too many other people here from Dallas Texas I've been placed in Dallas Texas I believe by God for the glory of God you're from all over the south and some of you further north and you've been placed where you've been placed and we've probably got different gift Dean's in regards to where we excel and where we don't and and and what I know about all of us is what we all have in common is this we are all servants of the Most High God and and that we are to follow me regard ourselves as such one of my favorite and I've really pulled this out often in my own life one of my favorite texts in the scripture one that I try to lay before my own heart often is in Luke 17 7 through 10 and in that text Jesus asks really a simple question that that's far from simple he says will any of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field come at once and recline at the table will he not rather say to him prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink and afterwards you will eat and drink does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded no he basically inferences no so you also when you have done all that you were commanded say we are only unworthy servants we have only done what is our duty now I love that text because regardless of what happens at the village regardless of what happens outside regardless of what happens with books regardless of opportunities like this where I get to stand in front of other pastors and preachers and say I really exhort them to follow and be obedient to God at the end of the day I am a servant of God alone I am his I am NOT to be praised other than as a servant of his and I love this text because I see I get to say for the Lord and before you I've only done my duty I've only done my duty and on top of that by the blood of Christ I get to delightfully do that duty it is not a hard burden to follow in glad obedience to my master and so how do you handle the personality situation I know if we're talking faithful versus fruitful I'm looking for a brother who understands he's a servant and not the master I get nervous when a guy operates in such a way that he puts off the vibe that God should be grateful that God grabbed him but God is in the heavens going you know what I was really worried about my kingdom and then you came along thanks doc have you ever seen a guy like that like it just makes me nervous and then I have to get inside and go kick out am I being judgemental am I being harsh please help my own heart but but there's something about guys who lie low and exalt Christ there's something about guys that lie low and exalt Christ I find my heart drawn to them I'm trying desperately to be one of those men we are all but servants we are all but servants of Christ there aren't positional servants in the kingdom we are all but with the gifts given to us by God as Lewis would you know his Sixpence None the Richer line we are with the gifts he's given us with the assignments he's given us faithfully serving God now the the second thing we see in this text is that all ministers are tools in the hands of God and and so really what would I know about preaching and teaching is that I can study and prep and wordsmith and worry and stand up and proclaim but ultimately I can motivate but only God can transform like I've learned that about I can motivate like I learned early on that I could say we need to do this guys here's what the word says let's go and people go out in the foyer and then sign up and then you know eight weeks later there'd be like 10% of the people still left involved I can motivate but I cannot transform hearts only God can transform hearts we are all but tools in the hands of God and here's why here's why that's important my father-in-law his name's Johnnie Walker given name is an unbelievable carpenter and like he made our dining room table like literally just made it I believe to shame me and you know I took his daughter so he's like okay you've gotten an effeminate man watch all right and he literally built our dining room table I was like I'll go buy one he's like I'll build it and he brings in this immaculate beautiful dining room table that will more than likely be in our family now until Christ returns and it turns to dust and right and and so in in the end I've tried to do that stuff and I've used his tool hey can I borrow that skill saw and I've tried to build things and here's here's what happens not that table all right not that table and and here's what because the one using the tool makes all the difference in the world the glory doesn't belong to the hammer glory belongs to the one that wields it specifically maybe hammers the wrong illustration because that hardly requires skill and precision I mean swing that like an idiot nailing a nail all right but but there are certain there are certain aspects of carpentry and and and building and deconstruction and reconstruction ultimately that my father-in-law excels at and that I stink at and when people come and they see our table or they go out and back and look at our Arbor they don't go huh can I see the drill that did this I mean they don't they they ask who did it I say my father-in-law and they Marvel and my father-in-law's gift with the tools and you and I brothers sisters we are simply tools in the father's hands we are instruments in his hands so in the same way that a saw cannot receive the glory for how the carpenter used it so the minister does not deserve the credit for how God ultimately used it and again I have at times preached my guts out and felt like you know that I mean this is about to be Chicano hey there's Pentecost part two about to happen all right close out my sermon awkward stairs you know emails this week totally confuse don't even know where you got that feel like your ex - Jesus was alright and and then I've got it before I'm just kind of stumbled and bumbled and tried to stay true to the text and and man God just move in profound ways now what made the difference it wasn't how long I studied wasn't how long I prayed it wasn't it was how God chose in that moment to use and to work and we are all instruments in to quote trip the Redeemers hands and so what do you do with the personality problem we're all servants and we're all instruments in God's hands but like I I marvel at how God uses men I know enough about men to marvel that God could use any of us really I mean that we would be conduits through which the power of God moves that should blow your mind like for all the ridiculousness of Christian Hollywood I find the whole idea to be just foolish there's there's no there's no such thing as John Piper it's just a man who loves the Lord and wants to preach the Word of God marvel at God's use of him marvel at him marvel at the God in him we are all but tools in God's hands and then I love this this next part in here that we all serve the same purpose and he calls us fellow workers and we've got a hard time with that in modern day evangelicalism a lot of us we are fellow workers with one another all working towards the the same goal all moving in the same direction I want to constantly lay before the village church and I'll lay it before you today that when all said and done there's one name that's gonna be praised just one just I don't get my day in glory if you will where I get to stand and from the throngs of God's children like huh what do you think about yeah what about Matt give it up round of applause from that that's not how that's not coming for me my reward is to be in the presence of my king with my crowns cast down before him only looking up when he allows me which my understanding is will constantly and and here's what I found in me when I was in what I'll just call spiritual puberty so so after my conversion I'm a how does it work kind of guy and my mom would tell stories of me like taking apart the lawnmower just to see how it worked I mean that's just kind of how I'm wired I need to know how things work I never could put the thing back together but I took it apart pretty effectively and and and then in that after I got saved I just started studying everything and I guess because of the amount of flesh that was still left in me I would see different guys saying different things and doing churches in different ways and and my immediate reaction was to bolster myself and my views and what I thought and to tear down others and to kind of do this compare and contrast and I became an expert on everyone's weaknesses most of the time by omission and what I mean by that it's not because of what they did say but because of what they did not say that I thought they should have I began to judge men on 10 minute sound bites began to judge guys on what was popular at the time a mentor ouch began to and then praise God I had in college a man that most of you will never know pulled me aside in my bitter church kid phase pull me aside and just lovingly say hey you don't know what you're talking about and then as I began to pull away from the church I'm going to pull away from really ministry in the kingdom he really just kind of gave me an assignment he says when you walk into church this Sunday if there's something that sets off that thing in you here's what I want you to ask yourself is it a theological issue is that a philosophical issue if it's a theological issue I want you to take you a little you little notebook we didn't have the fancy ones back then they were just spirals all right and they're winning leather thing with a design on it was just a ghetto spiral notebook all right and and I want you to open up that notebook and I want you to write in the notebook theologically what the issue is and I want you to solve it textually and then let's come back and talk about it if it's philosophical then what I want you to do is I want to write I want you to write whether that's just a preference or again if that feeds into a theological issue and and then he had me literally for like a year every time I went to church gotta go don't really like that they do that is it theological or is it philosophical and if it's philosophical what we had me do is write out what I would do differently and why I would do it differently and what I found is more often than not I didn't have theological issues I had personal preference issues that man's name is Steve Hardin and that two years probably did more to shape my life and ministry than anything else since he just helped me give my brother's the benefit of the doubt help me stop cannibalizing those who would be in glory with me help me to kind of breathe and relax alongside my fellow workers because here's what I know about the kingdom of God there are a lot of guys who are gonna be in glory who I dislike passionately their philosophy of ministry there gonna be a lot of guys in glory that uncertain open handed theological issues non gospel issues I differ night and day with but Paul just said were fellow workers that were working towards the same goal and and and I know some of you in here are like what about the heretics well if they truly are heretics and what you're talking about is they're preaching an anti gospel well then that's a whole thing altogether different than you guys have in philosophical differences and what I have found more often than not is among the angst of youth or to be a defender of truth we tend to war against philosophies rather than theologies so we all serve the same purpose now what's the purpose that we are working on well now our attention is going to turn away from the individual man and so I'm trying to get us to faithful versus fruitful and really how both assume the gospel so now let's move away from the personalities because what we've learned is that all men regardless of personalities are but servants of God all men regardless of personality we always if they're big and and a ton of it or meek and a tiny bit of it all of us are serving got all of us our tools in the hands of God and we are all fellow workers with one another given assignments by God that are distinct for the purposes of God now what is that purpose well in Ephesians 4:11 through 12 he says and he gave the Apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and the teachers for this purpose to equip the Saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body now now we're turning our attention away from the man and we're turning it towards the church so now in this next section of scripture we're gonna get to talk a lot about faithfulness versus fruitfulness and the such so let's look at it starting in verse 10 according to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it let each one take care how he builds upon it for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid which is Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ and so right out of the gate you have this idea of where does ministry begin ministry begins at the lane of the foundation of Christ Jesus so all ministry that is faithful and eventually will be fruitful finds its roots in the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and where there is ministry built on something other than that you are not dealing with Christian ministry so any conversation about fruitfulness is null and void because masses of people coming together to do good under the banner of church that have not been built upon the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not fruitful ministry at all because it fails to be ministry at all the foundation the only foundation that can be laid is the foundation of Jesus Christ you build on anything other than the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you you cease Christian ministry and you become the Rotary Club I'm not hating on the Rotary Club good work all right but the Rotary Club isn't a church and then here's something else I want to draw your attention to in this I love church planting I mean I I love it I give a ton of my energy and time to it there's something about robust biblically saturated gospel passionate Jesus centered churches that that the idea of those planting up and springing up in any place really stirs my affections for Jesus Christ it really does kind of churn in me a real zeal and excitement for the Lord's ability and and and here's what I know about most church plans they're small but the lane of foundation although there's no elaborate house there although it's just it would just be a foundation is fruitful it is fruitful so if we follow the Apostle Paul's ministry and we watch him kind of establish these kind of bulkheads of of Christian testimony throughout the ancient world outside of Ephesus and and maybe one other you're not talking about the Magus you're just talking about a group of men and women faithfully loving the Lord faithfully living out the gospel and this Lane of the foundation look at me is fruitful ministry but but it doesn't just stop there at this point if you're laying a foundation on the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you are actively involved in fruitful ministry you can throw out all the top hundred fast growing lists you can throw out all that nonsense and you can just rest in the the Bible's weight that says you're being faithful you're being faithful regardless of numerics this is faithful work but the laying of the foundation doesn't just stop there so let's let's look at what's next in verse 12 now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold over precious stones wood hay or straw now I want to stop there cuz he just threw out a lot of an ingredient now you've got the foundation laid so let's just say church is planted on the foundation of the gospel Christ was preached Christ life alright his imputed righteousness his death his atoning wrath absorbing death on the cross and his resurrection price paid in full it's preached people respond you've got now your foundation now you're off and running that was all faithful and fruitful ministry now we're building upon that foundation and you've got several different materials listed here you've got your gold silver and precious stones and then you have your wood hay and straw I think the best way to understand the gold silver and precious stones is to understand the wood hay and straw these words seemed to symbolize erroneous or imperfect doctrines that won't stand the test of time and which tend to lead to evil practices and so I'm basing that out of Galatians 4 9 where Paul says but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world who slaves you want to be once more so you can hear once again Galatians is one of these types of churches where the foundation was laid and they began to drift here into what into erroneous doctrine into imperfect doctrine into a bit of foolishness in fact he repeatedly calls them that in Galatians who has bewitched you as fooled you are you serious are you so foolish as to right and he's saying they went back to an imperfect doctrine an incomplete doctrine that actually began to lead them into sinfulness and licentiousness if not legalism altogether and again in Colossians 2:8 see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ so again you've got an empty philosophy and vain deceit seat so you can build on the foundation of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you can build with imperfect doctrines that lead people into licentiousness or legalism or you can build with what we see above in the gold silver or precious stones you can preach the full counsel of God where you're reliant upon the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God to transform and more the hearts of our people towards holiness and towards Christ's likeness and so here you have in this second section you you now have the ability to be either possibly fruitful building upon that salvation or possibly unfruitful built on that foundation and and yet in the end numerix don't tell the story but rather maturity does you see how it fits together where he begins to rebuke them for their maturity for how they're viewing personalities and what he's trying to teach them here's hey there's a way to build on the foundation that was late and the way to build on that is with complete doctrine with an understanding of who God is that transforms the life and makes us more and more and more and more like Christ so here you can have possibly faithful and possibly fruitful but but I don't think you can have unfaithful but fruitful are you tracking with me where it's unfaithful it's not fruitful all right it's apples stapled to a tree three of you are with me that's excellent now look at verse 13 this is as a pastor as a man of God this has me throw myself on the grace of God and on his word and allows me if I'm gonna look foolish for planting my feet on the Word of God let me look foolish because of what this next verse says verse 13 each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done now what this means it's like right now I am currently laboring at the village church that is where God has planted me that is where God has put me and so I am building on a foundation that I did not lay I did not plant that church I was not the one that established it Christ was clearly preached there early on I got to come in and build on that foundation and I'm trying with all the grace of God that has been given to me to build with gold silver and precious stones and the day it's coming the day of the Lord is coming when what has been built will be revealed was it built by me for me about me or did I build with what is true right and good and since this day is coming I tend to be able to once again since I know I have co-laborers out there that I'm gonna disagree with philosophically and at some level theologically and and I have this promise coming that I'm gonna rest and just let the Lord judge my brother's I do not feel the need to police evangelicalism now do I feel a desperate need to protect the men and women that God has given me care over as an under Shepherd of Christ absolutely but am I out sniping evangelicalism no I have no need to gondol judge God will burn it up God will find out we'll find out hit can I I want to say that God does not need you to defend him he's not like oh gosh what am I gonna do about this guy I know will you start a blog for me you know hey will you harass him via Twitter take that heretic I mean that you cannot believe that that's what's playing out in the heavenlies the day will determine so in Dallas we have several churches that I would have strong differences with in regards to theology and philosophy and practice all of them theology philosophy practice I would just go crazy now here can I tell you what blows my mind three of my favorite guys on staff know so here we go I'm just I've already prepped my assistant for the emails that are coming three of my favorite guys on staff came to know Christ at that church as a guy who wants to be extremely precise doctrinally that jacks with my head time says I don't like it now how evil does that make me I mean doesn't that make me the older brother in Luke 15 but does not make me pure before like what you saved a guy there no sir does that make me counseling God Almighty well let God reveal I want to let God do his work the days coming just need to keep my hand to the plow be faithful to my king the day is coming the day is coming now when it comes to this this idea of faithful versus fruitful here's what's really being asked more so than ever before everything's in front of us so from Twitter to the amount of conferences I mean I really there's at any given time anywhere in the world you can go to a conference on anything you want doesn't even matter how niche you want to be in regards to theology and practice you can find a conference on it they're everywhere and what we parade out in front of you more often than not is not a guy that pastors a church of 120 and we go look this is what church looks like is it no that's not in fact here here's what I've laughed as I spoken at other large conferences I like let me I'm here I'm here because we went from 160 to 10,000 that's why I'm here I'm not here because that's faithful because if I would have done the same things and shrank us from 160 to 20 no one to go hey Chandler come teach us how to do that come teach us how to be faithful and kill a church so what we're talking about here is numerix and I think unfortunately it's a characterization of two ends of the spectrum that's unfair to both and so let me address the character like this if we're talking about fruitfulness being sheerly numerics I cannot biblically define it like that but that's the character so if we're talking simply of churches that are based on numeric so let's call that the fruitful stream how do they assume the gospel I think they assume the gospel in two ways they put numeric growth above robust truth in order to see converts and so they're not gonna touch things that are divisive they're gonna leave really big chunks of scripture alone because those scriptures will offend people and so it's the belief that you can make Christ cool enough for everyone and that ain't happening you cannot give Jesus such a make over that everyone goes love that dude it's not everything in fact the more you try to do that the more the authority power and work of Jesus Christ wanes and you'd see nothing but shriveled up former life Jesus doesn't need a makeover he needs to be boldly proclaimed and you assume the gospel you assume the gospel when you think you have to give the gospel help you assume the gospel when you I also think another place where this kind of fruitful string assumes the gospel is they lack a plan and process for discipleship see they answer the fundamental question wrong what is the purpose of the church the purpose of the churches Virts no the purpose of the church is to make disciples that have been taught to observe all that he commanded we already read it why did he give teachers and why did he give prophets and evangelists and what why were those things given out of Ephesians 4 for the building up of the body into the the fullness of Christ for the works of the kingdom that that's what we are to be about making disciples and you assume the gospel when all the gospel is is a means of conversion and not a means of sanctification of maturity into the fullness of Christ you load heavy burdens on people when the gospel is what saves them but it relies solely on them to sanctify themselves though the gospel saves and the gospel sanctifies and way too many of and again this is a characterization but way too many of the fruitful stream lacks any processes for evangelism or shepherding or care for its members partners whatever word we want to use there in order to grow them into maturity in fact I have a dear friend of mine that lives in an area of the country that shall not be named there was going to such a church and there was literally no pastoral care they didn't do funerals they didn't do weddings they didn't there was no hospital visits there were no it was the weekend this is no real processes for care and no real processes for discipleship and that's one of the ways now I'll save I'll save most of my energy for ways the faithful stream assumes the gospel the truth is there in a guy in ministry that doesn't think he's being faithful right miss I like the fruitful guys are going we're gonna be unfaithful to see our place grow I just don't really believe that like done Matt named someone in greater evangelicalism or even someone we would consider to be on the fringes of it and and they'd preach a sermon on faithful fruitful ministry not a God ministry the dozen think he's being faithful at least I would hope now in that faithful stream which which I would define as the character church is that all we're interested in is doctrine and truth all right we don't really care about people we don't really you know you just give us our five points and get out of my face all right and if you don't believe in definitive Otomi you're probably not a believer all right that that kind of that that's the characterization all right it's only doctrine that's all it is there's no real love for people it's just polled systematic intellectual assent that's the characterization now in the faithful stream here's how I believe the faithful stream assumes the gospel so here's here's something that bothers me I'm just gonna be straight with you I find that in many robust theological churches that there seems to be a lack of gospel ambition and what I mean by that is there's a belief that their smallness somehow validates their faithfulness you know a faithful I am we're running a tea we're up to 90 and that's like I'm not having it so I did two years on Leviticus shrank us back down now you can giggle but that kind of trash happens all the time all right it's a like being small is a trophy this assumes the gospel because it lacks the belief in the Gospels ability to penetrate and draw among the masses faithful obedient converts unto Christ who grow and are disciples it lacks even a belief for that doesn't have a market for it and so I can tell you as a guy whose church grew had no intention of it growing I wanted it to grow had a desire for it to grow just unashamedly I wanted God to save people I wanted him to rescue and I wanted him to do it like I saw him doing in Ephesus where it's so shook and rearranged the socio-economic climate the people rioted I want that still want it for Dallas when I Drive by our Walnut Hill campus I see all those strip clubs I wonder what would it be like for the gospel to fall in such a way that they couldn't make money anymore would it be like for the gospel to fall in such a way that there wasn't money to be made in these adult bookstores what would it be that's what happened in Ephesus at some level I want that and for guys who lacked that gospel ambition there a lot of us who so theologically precise they can't dream like that well you know Matt narrow is the path small is the gate well yeah absolutely but you can get another very long single-file line yo and so I think brothers in the faithful tribe have a tendency to lack gospel ambition another one I think guys in the faithful tribe have a tendency again this is all character Chur have a tendency to be unnecessarily harsh I don't know where it came from I tried to track it down even at you know in the months leading up to this there is look like please hear me there is a wrong way to be right track it with me there's a wrong way to be right there's a way to be right and doctorally accurate that instead of drawing into the beauty of the truth we find in the scripture instead is unnecessarily offensive now the bible parts of the bible parts of god's plan for human flourishing is going to offend secular sensibilities that's not what I'm talking about we should never shy away from that type of offense but but the kind of brazen offend to offend sake but that's just immature a spiritual immaturity and I wish we could lock you in a cage so you grew up it's not helpful it's not helpful in any way and if you land in that reformed camp how that can create such brazen violence and arrogance blows my mind if there should ever be a doctrine that lays us low it's the doctrine that God saved us by His grace alone through faith alone there would ever be a one that would have us dealing gently with people would it not be that when you see brothers sisters doctrine and the truth of Scripture should always be handled like a scalpel and never like a club always like a scalpel and never like a club it so much of where I landed theologically that right now I believe is right and good before the Lord before the Word of God I believe I could give a resounding defense biblically for almost everywhere I land in regards to doctrine and what I believe about soteriology and ecclesiology and all the ologies man in the end they were all processes which means I didn't get there overnight over a period of time as people lovingly just kind of handed me a book or opened up the Word of God for me or sent me home to look at a passage allowed me to to rest it was all a process and praise God that he did not put in my life or protected me from so many that I see today the demand that others join them today with took them years to arrive upon we are not to be men and women who are unnecessarily harsh may we be people of truth yes amen we be people of truth but there's a way to do that that's right good loving and compassionate and there's a way to do that that shows that you don't quite understand the gospel and then the last way that I find the faithful stream and this is really tied into the first one the the the last way I see kind of this faithful stream assuming the gospel is there seems to be an evangelistic laziness almost like a functional d-terminal ISM you know that that kind of that kind of character church as well God's gonna say he's gonna say whatever go get him God what same anyone get up off the couch now you got this see again it goes back to it goes back to this do you really believe that we can be as broken and as goofy as we are conduits through which the Holy Spirit of God works to draw rescue and save see the faithful crowd I found so often wants to argue about little niche corners of theology that they'd forgotten about the heralding of the good news to those around them see more than I want to be concerned about converting a God to a particular doctrine that I believe I want to see a guy come to know and love the Jesus that I so desperately know and love and then let's get to work but how many I mean seriously how many people that would be categorized in this faithful are far more concerned about converting someone to a specific doctrinal persuasion rather than they are seeing people come to know and love Jesus Christ in any type of real way so whether it's faithful or fruitful our tendency is to assume the gospel that's why Paul perpetually preaches the gospel to people who already know the gospel that's why almost all of Paul's letters sans 2nd Corinthians are going to address the gospel teach the gospel once again to people who already know the gospel I mean have you ever marveled at the fact he's writing a letter to the churches at Ephesus and and and the first two chapters are nothing but the gospel and in Romans is nothing but the gospel I mean just writing the gospel that got well before we talked about marriage for we talked about children before we talk about church life let's talk about what Christ has done for you that we all have a tendency to drift all I have a tendency to assume instead of explicitly make known the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so I started my time with you like this I kind of want to end it this way too the United States government saw fit to move my family from California the Bay Area to Texas the Galveston area that in and of itself if you've been to both of those places might be taken for God's wrath and I end up in a football locker next to a guy who just boldly shared the gospel I mean just like a beast share the gospel with me I need to tell you about Jesus when are we doing that I mean that's awesome I got literally taking that and just used it for years that's how I'm gonna let you choose when we do it but I'm doing it so when you want to do it and here for a year I went to church with him and and just my thought it was the goofiest thing ever I just mocked it and thought it was silly we spelled the word joy with our bodies jo WA right I mean you know goofy that is if you're a unbelieving 17 year old like that I got saved in that period of time is a testimony of the sovereignty of God over salvation and I just kept coming back and and God saved me and here he like he didn't answer any of my questions I got these issues with the Bible like how how could it possibly be translated accurate through all these had massive problems we saw I had massive problems with suffering in the home I was growing up on that I had an abusive dad and a mom was hyper religious but didn't have a problem with the abuse of my dad met all these and Jesus didn't answer any of those guys but well I'm glad you asked Matt well but if you look at it transition wise if you look at the Scrolls of crime what you can see is that the problem you know Isaiah is almost identical to the except for these two it like you didn't do any of that and go well actually I can bring purpose in to suffering that does exist I don't sound like none of my questions got answered she's like you're gonna love me okay I love you and then that that was it I marvel at that and something happened to me in that moment that I became fully aware that God does that like that's what he saves he draws near and he doesn't need someone to be interested in order to save him love the conversion of soul if there was ever a not seeker it's Saul of Tarsus but God doesn't care God rescued him and saved and then he meets Lydia at kind of a Jewish that's more Bible study and rescues her and they write God saves he draws near even the prophet Isaiah prophesied the arms of the Lord are not too short to save he can rescue and then upon that rescue will mature us will sanctify he begins the work he completes the work and so here's my appeal I don't know how many days I have I don't know how many days you have some of us won't be here next year I've pastored long enough to know that some of us will not be here next year and that's because we don't have money for a ticket our days will simply be up and so my appeal brothers/sisters is with the days we have left with the breath we have left may we proclaim him and be faithful and with angst and with gut-wrenching prayer and belief and the power of the gospel expect and long to see fruit fruit in the depth of maturity and fruit in the salvation from those in our neighborhoods in our cities in our States and to the ends of the earth be faithful and pray to the God of heaven for more fruit than you can get your mind around and let's labor and scratch and work and plead and beg and be bothered by when we don't see it let's pray father I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room maybe they're in a spot where they have labored for years and they've seen so little fruit father I pray that you would sustain them God that you would remind them of your abilities not their abilities but yours I pray that you would increase their faith in regards to prayerfulness and expectation not an expectation that disappoints but rather an expectation that pushes them further and further into you in more and more prayer and more and more desire for you to be known you to be loved you to be exalted and and I pray for those who have experienced maybe some firstfruits of faithfulness God would you protect them from the drift that invariably comes when we began to see fruit God as we begin to try to protect what we believe what we did rather than resting and thanking you for what you have done and so God I thank you that you call us not to faithful unfruitful ministry but rather to faithful ministry that bears fruit I thank you that as we walk in obedience to you there will be nothing there will be none of us that that doesn't bear a type of fruit in glory on that day when things are burned up God we will be surprised at the rewards lavished out on that day and and who was indeed faithful who did indeed build with gold and silver and precious stone and and many of us will be shocked to see how much has burned away that was hay and wood and stubble may you give us God the grace to build with precious stones build with precious rock and may we have our lives wrung out for your glory and and for your name and renown and it's for your beautiful name I pray amen thanks guys

Channel: Truth Endures

Views: 12,481

Rating: 4.8279572 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, Advance13, The Gospel, Church

Id: lVoukNeBOz8

Length: 53min 3sec (3183 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2013