This last week in Sunday School I mentioned a video of the ESV translators debating how the word “slave” (δοῦλος) should be translated. It is interesting to hear the different views talked about in light of how different cultures perceive the understanding of what “slave” should mean. Check the video below for a taste of what I’m talking about.
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Rob Bell and “Love Wins”
Today in my Sunday School class I worked through some material having to do with Rob Bell and his latest book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Whoever Lived. 
Much of the material was originally purposed for teaching a contemporary theology class at Northland, but I thought it fitting for my Sunday School class as well since Bell is so influential, and the church can be so undiscerning.
Right now Bell’s book is the #2 best selling book on Amazon’s website under Christianity, right behind another book ironically about heaven (it is apparently an awful book as well, check out Challies‘ review). When books climb sales charts it obviously means they are selling and I want to make sure that people are being as discerning as possible if they are picking up this book. So I told my class that I won’t tell them not to buy the book and I told them that I wouldn’t say don’t read the book. I told them that if they are interested in it they need to read it discerningly.
Currently in our small community of Iron Mountain/Kingsford, MI there are two churches that are using Bell’s book for a curriculum in a positive way. This is even more the reason to be aware of the heterodoxy that lies within its pages.
I thought I would do a review of the book but I could never improve upon some of the things that have already been written. So let me direct you to the best reviews that I have read so far:
- Kevin DeYoung | Kevin wrote a 20 page review that is pastoral in nature and the best I’ve read on Bell. If you want to get an understanding for Bell and his book, the 20 page review is well worth your time.
- Tim Challies | Tim was the first one to publish his view to the public. It is a helpful review.
- The Resurgence | This is not so much a review as it is a chronology of events that detail the entire hullabaloo.
My favorite moment so far though has to be Martin Bashir’s interview of Bell on his show on MSNBC. Bashir didn’t hold anything back and made Bell look like a little schoolboy.
Elders: Shepherding the Flock of God
I was doing some studying yesterday in preparation for a Sunday School lesson and was reading 1 Peter 5:1-5;
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (ESV)
As I read that I was reminded of Robert Reymond’s commentary on the passage in his New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. He says that these verses very clearly imply a certain set of responsibilities for elders:
- Keep the members of their flock from going astray. This implies instruction and warning. An elder must be able and ready to teach those under his care.6 This means, of course, that he must faithfully labor to acquire a knowledge of God’s Word in order to teach it.
- Go after their members when they go astray. This implies reproof, correction, and in some cases the exercise of church discipline. Of course, elders should attempt by private instruction and admonition to correct an erring member of their flock at the earliest stage of a spiritual or moral defection, before open and censurable sin breaks forth that would require harsher measures of discipline.
- Protect their members from wolves teaching false doctrine and evil practice that would enter in among them. This implies meticulous, careful application of the admission requirements for church membership, and a constant effort to cultivate in the people a discerning apprehension of the distinction between truth and error.
- Lead their flock to the fold and pour oil into their wounds and give them pure water to quench their thirst. This implies pastoral concern and consolation. Elders should be keenly aware of the fact that many of their people will be broken in spirit and wounded for many and varied reasons. They should be ready, whenever the need becomes known, to visit the sick, bind up the broken reed, lift up the fallen hand, strengthen the weakened knee, and fan the smoking flax back into a bright and healthy flame.
Reading through these responsibilities once again gave me a great appreciation for the elders of my church and their commitment to live and govern our church according to the Word.
Going Further with Discipleship
This post is most relevant to my Sunday School class at Immanuel Baptist Church. I finished up a section today on discipleship in our series “Exploring a Healthy Church.” Here are the questions I asked at the end:
Read 1Peter 2:1-3. What is Peter’s hope for these Christians? What does he mean by “grow up” in salvation?
Some people believe that “church growth” means only growth in numbers. Read Acts 2:41. Why do you think the number of converts was recorded? Now read the rest of chapter 2. Would the great numbers of converts have been glorifying to God if they had not also been growing in holiness? Why or why not?
Weeds can have bad effects on the plants around them. In what ways can undisciplined, sinful church members negatively affect the growth of Christians around them? How can good influences in a church be tools in God’s hand for growing His people? Can you think of some examples in your own church?
What are some ways that God is glorified by a maturing church? How many of these things do you see consistently in the life of your church?
Church Discipline: Going Further
For the benefit of my Sunday School class I am posting some follow up things to think about. These are the three points I ended the church disciple section on.
Read John 5:27-30. To whom has the Father granted authority to judge? Now read Matthew 18:15-17. To whom has Jesus delegated the authority to judge in this world? Has the church faithfully administered this charge that our Lord has given us?
Read 1Corinthians 5:1-2. What action does Paul say the Corinthian church should have taken regarding this sinful church member? Now read verses 3-5. By whose authority (in whose name) is the church to act? What is the ultimate hope of such action? Do you think Paul thought of church discipline as a heartless and cruel action, or a loving action that would benefit a person’s soul?
Read Romans 14:1-4. What are some ways that church discipline could be open to abuse? Spend some time thinking about how your church could faithfully and carefully fulfill our Lord’s charge in Matthew 18:15-17 while guarding against abuses.
*Material used from IX Marks website
IX Marks of a Healthy Church
Since September, my Sunday school class has been systematically working our way through the 9 marks that make up a healthy church. So far the study has been good for me and hopefully encouraging to my church. I frequently mention the name Mark Dever connected to much of my material because it is his material I am largely drawing from. I wanted to share a brief video of Mark Dever talking about the 9 marks of a healthy church. This is an introduction video to the 9 marks, but there are a bunch more that relate as well that you can view at this link.
I would also encourage you to check out the 9 Marks website. It is filled with content that edifies the church and brings glory to God.
Church Membership
Last week in Sunday School we introduced the idea of what biblical church membership is. Once introduced we talked a bit about how people in our culture and our society are afraid of commitment and that is much of what drives people to not join a church. There are a few interesting things I have seen written on church membership over the years that I thought would be helpful to post here.
One of the first things I read that really rattled me was in Joshua Harris’ book, Stop Dating the Church!: Fall in Love with the Family of God 
. He was quoting Mark Dever who said:
If you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, you may well be going go hell.
Now don’t misunderstand what Dever is saying. He is not saying you need to be a member of a church to secure your salvation. Dever believes and teaches that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—there is no question about that. In fact he follows up the statement by saying;
I don’t mean for a second that you literally have to have your name on a membership card in a church somewhere to go to heaven. I believe in justification by faith alone in Christ alone by God’s grace alone. At the same time, in the New Testament it seems that the local church is there to verify or falsify our claims to be Christians. The man in 1 Corinthians 5 who was sleeping with his father’s wife thought of himself as a Christian.
But that begs the question, what does he mean by such a statement? I think what he is saying is that people all over this world make a claim to be a Christian but don’t live in light of being transformed—they don’t see how the gospel changes people. You cannot claim to have faith and say you are in the light but continue to walk in deep sin and darkness. Church membership is what serves as a confirmation of this.
Let me leave you with a video of John Piper and his take on church membership. This is a good summary to the whole conversation.
D. A. Carson on Bible Unity
One of the topics that I really want to teach on in our Sunday School is on the unity of the Bible. If after the present series I am in I am asked to continue teaching I will most likely head in the direction of a series on Bible unity. This is an often neglected area of study—one that did not start to solidify for me until the end of seminary.
I came across a short video of D. A. Carson, who is a research professor in New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School talking about Bible unity.
I am sure I will have more to say on the topic, but for now I have to keep hammering away at on my paper for the course I took a few weeks ago.
Who Chooses Who?
This last week in Sunday School I was wrapping up some teaching on understanding conversion biblically. Part of that conversation went in the direction of discussing various aspects of election and predestination. Over at “The Blazing Center” Stephen Altrogge has posted a very short, but very good post called “So which is it? Did I choose God or did He choose me?” Since this is relevant to what we have been talking about I thought I would mention it here.
About Me
I am a follower of Christ, a husband to Michelle, and an employee to Northland International University. I married the love of my life in May of 2009 one week after I graduated from seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. I am now pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree and desire to serve the church through education and discipleship.
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