Gospel-shaped Lenses

Do you have Gospel-shaped lenses through which you view the body of Christ? Do you look for evidences of God's grace in others? I was listening to Pastor Mark Driscoll discuss 3 types of people who are in the church: positives, negatives, and neutrals. My endeavor is to expand on this concept a bit and challenge you to assess how you view the body of Christ.

Positives are people who have a gospel mind-set about the church. They see other believers through a lens of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Positives are for the body of Christ and default to trusting and giving the benefit of the doubt to others. In other words, Positives look for and expect the Holy Spirit's work in other people. Positives do not overlook your sin, nor are they unrealistically optimistic. Rather, they are those who are looking for the grace of God in your life. Positives are those who confront you for sin, but always in the context of seeing evidences of grace in your life. They do not keep a record of wrongs over time that they hang over your head and threaten to end your relationship over. Instead, Positives keep a record of God's grace in your life in an effort to always pursue reconciliation. Positives expect grace to prevail and the Holy Spirit to win the war with the flesh!

Neutrals are people who are still growing in their understanding of the gospel, but have not become strongly rooted in a gospel mind-set. Neutrals are not defined as those looking for sin in others, nor are they looking for evidences of grace. Neutrals may be emphasizing either of these aspects depending on the company they are keeping. If Neutrals are spending time with and being influenced by Positives, then they tend to see evidences of grace in others. If Neutrals are spending time with and being influenced by Negatives, then they tend to see sin and failures in others. Neutrals lack the gospel maturity to dismiss slanderous reports they hear about others and often give ear to gossip. Neutrals are the largest group of people in the church and they will tend to follow the culture of the church.

Negatives are people who have either an over-developed sense of human depravity or an under-developed sense of sanctifying grace, or both. Of course, a negative would rightly point out that since humanity is deeply wicked they could hardly be over-developed in their sense of human depravity. However, I would contend that they wrongly assume "total depravity" means men are as wicked as they can be, rather than they are fallen in every faculty. Further, I would argue they really do have an under-developed sense of sanctifying grace. Negatives are those who are expecting sin to trip others up and who notice it as soon as it happens. Negatives default to believing bad reports they hear about brothers. Negatives share those same bad reports with other people. Negatives see the sin in brothers far more than they see the evidences of grace. Negatives are quick to accuse and slow to defend. They are quick to assume the worst and slow to give the benefit of the doubt. Negatives are not people who expect the gospel to change others over time. They are those who keep records of wrongs. Negatives are those who are keeping a record of sin over time in order to present a full case to you of your sins and why they can no longer maintain a relationship with you. Negatives suffer from the fundamental flaw in their functional theology that the flesh will defeat the Spirit and that sin will conquer grace!

Now, I want to challenge you to assess whether you are a Positive, Neutral, or Negative. I spent a good portion of my life as a Negative. By the grace of God, I eventually moved from that mind-set through neutrality to being a Positive. I want to include a self-assement for determining where you fall with regard to these categories in two important relationships in your life:

Your Marriage (assuming you are both Christians)

1. Do you assume the best or worst about your spouse? When your spouse does something that looks remarkably similar to a past sin or failing, do you jump to the conclusion that they are in fact sinning in this manner again, or do you expect it may be just a misunderstanding?

2. Do you have an easier time listing marital irritations, sins your spouse has committed and failures in their lives; or do you have an easier time listing evidences of God's grace in changing them?

3. Would your spouse report that you are generally expressing thankfulness for the way God is working in their life; or that you are generally disappointed and nagging them about the ways in which they are failing? Ask them!

4. Would your friends say that your speech about your spouse reflects your thankfulness for what God is doing, or your complaints about what is lacking? Ask them!

Your Church Leaders (assuming they are Christians:))

1. Do you assume the best or the worst about your leaders? When your church leaders do something that looks remarkably similar to a past sin or failing, do you jump to the conclusion that they are in fact sinning in this manner again, or do you expect it may be just a misunderstanding?

2. Do you have an easier time listing bad decisions, sins leaders have committed and failures in their lives; or do you have an easier time listing evidences of God's grace in changing them?

3. Would your church leaders report that you are generally expressing thankfulness for the way God is working in the church, or that you generally seem disappointed and complain to them about the ways in which the church could be better? Do your pastors get a knot in their stomach when they see an email from you in their inbox, or do they anticipate great encouragement? Ask them.

4. Would your friends say that your speech about your church leaders reflects your thankfulness for what God is doing, or your complaints about what is lacking? Ask them.

5. Are you often participating in and entertaining gossip about leaders at your church, or are you known for not tolerating it? If others in the body feel comfortable telling you their complaints about the church leaders, then you have your answer!

Sadly, when we are a Negative toward others we are generally being defeated regularly by sin ourselves. We are being defeated because we are not constantly meditating on the Gospel, and it is not our constant motivation. We are defeated because the Gospel is the power to save and to sanctify and we aren't trusting in it! We need to remember that both our positional and practical holiness before God come by grace.

The major breakthrough for me came when I was considering Paul's view of the church at Corinth. Corinth was a church that was riddled with division over leaders, sexual immorality, lawsuits, idolatry, unholy practice of communion, an incorrect understanding of the role of women, and the abuse of spiritual gifts in the church. Yes, the apostle Paul rebuked and corrected this sin in the church. However, Paul began his letter saying something astounding about them:

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I pray that we can be as gospel-minded as the apostle!

To watch Mark Driscoll's sermon on Positives, Negatives, and Neutrals, watch here.

Just Politics or Life Lessons?

Running for political office can seem a very unusual and foreign experience. Recognizing that there are political battles that need to be fought and won is not necessarily unusual. Deciding you should be the person who leads the troops in the political battle is another matter. Placing yourself before the public and appealing to them to allow you to lead them is the kind of role that definitely requires a sense of calling.

In 2004, I believed God had called me to run for school board. I had no idea the saga that would play out from that initial decision to run. I did not recognize the many ups and downs that would ensue. I did not recognize the multiple victories, popularity, accolades, and new friends I would gain. I also did not recognize the many misunderstandings, the notoriety, the gossip, and the new enemies I would gain. In the sheer magnitude of life events that surround political involvement, I would agree that it is definitely unusual. Being well known and adored and hated with a high level of intensity by people you have never met is definitely unusual.

I would not agree, however, that the life lessons from politics are foreign or unusual at all. The lessons may be painted on a public canvas, but they are not lessons that apply only in politics. My goal is to list some lessons I have learned after 6 years of crazy ups and downs in political life that I believe have universal application:

1. Don't believe your own press

Success in political endeavors inevitably brings good press coverage. Winning the approval of voters and having people speak exceedingly well of you is a powerfully intoxicating experience. This carries over into everyday human existence. There are few cups as addicting to drink from as the cup of human approval. We find great personal happiness drinking deep from the cup of our own adoration. We love men to love us. Apart from the grace of God graciously bursting into our lives, we are incurable self-worshippers. We believe our own good press because it affirms what we already want to believe about ourselves.

The primary problem with believing your own press is that we often don't raise our gaze above the headlines and look to the Cross. When the press we are getting is good we get carried away with self-exaltation and lose sight of the truth that we are sinners. When the press is bad we get lost in self-pity and lose sight of the truth that we are Christ's. The truth is that we are no more and no less than someone for whom Christ gave his life that we might be saved! Yet, drinking up man's approval can be so terribly addicting. The Bible says that wine is a mocker; so too is the cup of human approval.

2. Thank God for bruising you as needed

In my time in politics I have watched my friends lose many elections. Providentially, I have only lost one small election, but I have felt the pain of the losses of others. I have reflected much on how political losses are not terribly different than any other kind of suffering. It can be exceedingly painful and humiliating to lose politically. When a politician loses a political race it can also cause an identity crisis. These are realities that apply to every other kind of suffering. For example, when a marriage falls apart it is also painful, humiliating, and can cause an identity crisis. How do we handle this kind of suffering?

I would contend we need to be thankful for all forms of suffering. Suffering is God's gracious work of bringing an end to an idol in our lives. I am not suggesting that God directly acts to bring suffering in our lives. However, I am arguing that God so purposes and superintends all circumstances so that he guarantees the suffering we are enduring. He does this so that we will come to an end of ourselves, utterly repent of all idolatry, and joyfully look to Him in faith. He brings suffering into our lives so that we recognize our continual need for Him, which is our good! The Puritan divine, Richard Sibbes, has said that "God bruises a reed so he will know that he is not an oak." Suffering is the gracious bruising God brings into our lives so we know we are not oaks! This temporary, faith-building, joy-inducing, and praiseworthy bruising is God's gracious design for our lives. We should not despise the bruising but be thankful for it.

3. Be careful with fair-weather friends

I remember my first campaign for political office quite well. I ran in 1998 for a central committee seat and I lost horribly. No one endorsed me and even less people voted for me. I also remember my second campaign. I ran in 2004 for a school board seat. I gained little support from any political establishment. I had no significant endorsements, little money, and according to pundits little likelihood of winning. Yet, in a shocking turn of events I overwhelmingly won the election. I was amazed at all the new friends I gained. Suddenly, people who would not give me the time of day wanted to go to lunch. I was now a hot commodity politically.

I remember saying to one of my friends the night I won that this new found popularity is fleeting. I told him we need to note those who stood by us before victory because they would be the ones left after defeat. Proverbs 19:4 says, "wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend." The fact is that we all love to run with those who have money and power. We love to sit near the seat of power. We are also a people who love the taste of the words of a gossip (Prov. 26:22). So, when the political winds shift the chatter begins. When the popularity wanes we dine on the reputation of our friend.

Thus, we should be warned that we must be exceedingly careful with fair-weather friends. Loyal friends are hard to find. How do you know the difference between loyal friends and fair-weather friends? I think you can apply two tests:

a. Who are your friends before victory? Who was there when you were still poor and who is only around now that you are rich?

b. Who are your friends who tell you the truth, rather than just flatter you? We love the profuse kisses of our enemies and don't always care for the wounds of our friends. However, the wounds of a friend are faithful.

4. Courageously pursue your calling and not outcomes

On a rainy evening in the Spring of 2004 I stood quietly dejected with a group of friends in a parking lot. We had just lost a battle over what we considered an important moral issue and had been betrayed by people we supported. We were stunned and defeated (Incidentally, this is a scene I see portrayed every couple of election cycles).

As we stood there wondering how such injustice could happen and wondering where we go from here, I heard wisdom that I strive to live by everyday. An older Christian lady said to us, "Tonight we lost. But, we did not come out here to fight because we knew we would win. We came out here to fight because we believe the cause is just! Tonight we lost. But, tomorrow we will get up and fight again because the cause is just. Whether we win or lose we will continue to get up each day and fight because the cause is just!"

Whether the calling God has put in your life is politics or something else, you get up everyday and fulfill your calling because it is what He has given you to do. It is right to give God glory by vigorously pursuing your calling, regardless of whether you receive the outcome you hope for in doing so. I fulfill my pastoral calling because God has called me to it. I let God take care of the outcomes. I believe God has given me a mission to water and sow. I believe God will give the increase. This same principle follows in every area of our lives. We know what God calls us to but we don't know what outcome will occur. Our responsibility is to simply get up everyday and do it because it is right. So, I encourage you to take courage and fulfill your calling no matter what the outcome is each individual day.

Spiritual Pride

“Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment. It is the main source of all the mischief the devil introduces, to clog and hinder a work of God.

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself.”

Jonathan Edwards

HT: Ray Ortlund

He Stoops to Conquer

"Our Lord's self-humbling is not merely exemplary (although it is that, too, John 13:14-15); it is saving. Jesus does not stoop merely in order to shame the disciples, but to show them that the only way of salvation is through His washing away the filth of their sins by His self-emptying on the cross. Only those who are washed can have any part in Jesus (John 13:8)."

Sinclair Ferguson on John 13:1-17 and Philippians 2:5-11

Misplaced Humility

"What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert -- himself."

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, chapter three, "The Suicide of Thought."

(HT: Ray Ortlund)