Launch Celebration Service

On Sunday night the families of Shannon Forest Christian School and Shannon Forest Presbyterian Church gathered together to celebrate the official launch of the school as an independent organization.  The Celebration Service was a special time of worship, prayer, and thanksgiving for the Lord's faithfulness to his people. SFPC Pastor Mark Auffarth challenged those gathered to cling to the Gospel of grace and to remember that "good behavior" or "the right friends" or "hiding our mess" will not save us.   It is only through the finished work of Jesus that we can boldly view our weaknesses and rejoice in the faithfulness of God.

I've included the transcript of Mark's sermon below.
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[The label on the bottle said:] "Blueberry Pomegranate, 100 percent juice, all natural."  [There was also a picture of] a ripe pomegranate [spilling] its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. …

And then I read the ingredients list: "Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate." Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally I found them, fifth and seventh on a list of nine ingredients, after mysteriously unspecified "natural flavors."

By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. That means a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down. So according to this list, the jug in my hand held mostly water and other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.

In the bottom corner of the front label, in small, easy-to-miss type, were the tell-tale words: "Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients." The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product, convincingly disguised to look like something it wasn't. I put the juice back on the shelf.

I left the store empty-handed and wondering, What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? If not, how far down the list would he be? Would my "label" accurately represent my contents? Or would I falsely project a misleading outward appearance that cleverly masked diluted ingredients? My packaging may be convincing. I may look and sound like the real thing. But what if someone came to me looking for Jesus beneath my "Christian" label and found something else? Something Jesus-flavored, but not Jesus-filled?[1]

- The challenge I want to set before the school as we launch you to go independent is the same challenge I want to set before the church

- What’s beneath the label?

- Paul talks about this in the book of Galatians

(Gal 3:1-5 NIVO) You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ⁴ Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? ⁵ Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

- What is Paul telling us here?

- It’s not really about how you look at all

- The truth is, we are obsessed about our behavior

- That’s why Paul is so angry – because after understanding the gospel of grace, they have decided to go back to rule keeping as the way to earn God’s favor

- I’ll say it again: we are obsessed with behavior

- In fact, we're neurotic about it

- It's certainly one of the reasons we put our kids in a Christian school; we want them to be around kids that behave well. 

            - Good behavior is something that is drilled into us from the earliest age.

- Now, good behavior is not wrong but it’s so easy to advertise one thing with our behavior, but when one gets a look under the hood, they see something far different

- It is so easy to be a school or a church that has all the bells and whistles, that has great programs, that has good looking people, that has a professional and well educated staff, that does all the right things but be absolutely dead underneath

- Paul asks the Galatians how they received the Spirit

- Was it by observing the law?

                            - In other words, was it because they behaved well and did the right things?

                            - Is that what Jesus wants?

                            - Does he want an organization that is strong; that seeks excellence; that shows the world how                               wonderful it is?

- Well, I don’t think some of these things are bad but they’re not the essence at all – they are a result of the essence

- Paul says:

(Gal 3:5 NIVO) ⁵ Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

- It’s because of what they heard

- What did they hear?

- They heard the gospel

- What is the gospel?

(1Co 1:26-29 NIVO) ²⁶ Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.

- It is always the weak that believe the gospel because they know that they need a Savior

- It is always the weak that call out and say “Save me”

- And this is the opposite from what our surrounding culture offers us – only the strong survive there

- But in the upside down world of the kingdom of God, it is the weak that dare to believe that someone else will be strong for them

- Paul says this in the same passage:

(1Co 1:22-23 NIVO)  ²² Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

- This is an upside down world

- What does it mean then for our respective organizations?

o   It means that God is not necessarily impressed with higher, faster louder

o   It’s not what we do, it’s always WHY we do it that matters

o   If we are not organizations that glory in our weaknesses, because through them he is made strong, then we haven’t understood the gospel

Let me tell you that we should not be where we are right now.  It has been an absolute testament to God’s power that we are even having this service of worship and celebration.  We have tasted weakness from every side and God has proven to be faithful.

- And so now I challenge all of us as we go forward

                   - Behaviorism – which is a focus on outward appearance and behavior – will be the fastest 

                        path to Biblical apostasy

                   - If we’re worried about organizational drift – then we've got to worry about what’s under the                                     hood – we need to be Jesus filled, not Jesus flavored

- Behaviorism is exactly where the Pharisees were and they ended up crucifying Jesus

- But real gospel belief is messy – it’s not just unbelievers that are messy, Christians are incredibly messy

- Believing the gospel means getting messy with non Christians and Christians alike

- Don’t think for a moment that just because you’re in a Christian church or that your children are in a Christian school that they are free from messiness

- You may shield your children from a messy world but who is going to shield them from you?

- They learn far more sin patterns from us than from anyone else

I see sinful patterns in my own children that are like looking in the mirror.  They have learned these from me and it grieves me.  They need a Savior just like I do.

- So the antidote is to believe the gospel

- But that’s the beauty

- Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished!!”

- That means that our messiness is covered – it’s paid for – it’s been dealt with from beginning to end

- Our children need to soak in this!

- And God loves this and will pour out his Spirit liberally to those that will walk in weakness before him and believe what he says

o   To be Jesus filled is to admit our messiness and to run to him on a regular basis

o   To be Jesus filled is not to run from messy situations or people but to engage with them – whether they are Christians or non-Christians – knowing that the same gospel that we need daily is the same gospel that they need

o   To be Jesus filled is to be a walking billboard that says, “I’m messy and I need a Savior daily to come and change me from being an anonymous mix of harmful chemicals and ingredients to genuine pomegranate and blueberry juice.

       This is the gospel and it changes everything!!

---

[1] Erin Bunting, "Jesus Flavored, or Jesus Filled?" Kyria.com (10-7-09)

  

Good, Clear Thinking . . .

As some of you may know, I run most mornings with my friend Caleb.  We have great conversations on a gamut of topics.  Recently he and his wife decided to be part of a church plant in Boston and we have been talking through this decision and its implications.  One morning we talked about what it is like to move somewhere and realize that many of the things you believe and practice are not universal.  This experience is fine when it deals with things like sweet or unsweet tea, grits, or the social pleasantries of sir and ma'am.  Recognizing that this applies to your faith is a difficult adjustment.  Asking "Is this a cultural preference or scriptural norm?" is something we all need to do.

After our morning jog and conversation I asked Caleb to write about this for my blog.  Here it is.

Bob Collins

President

I was born and raised in Greer, SC.  I was baptized as a small child in a Southern Baptist church. My family was there at most every opportunity. I was educated in the Greenville County School system, and the only years I was not a Greenville County resident were my few at Clemson University. There I met and later married a Tennessee girl, and we settled in Greenville. My friends and family have largely similar stories. I tell you this not so that you know who I am, but so that you know how I think.  

My wife and I are moving with our two year-old daughter to Boston to support a church plant. We were both surprised to feel called into this ministry.  We expected to live out our days in the sultry summers and mild winters of the South.  We have not spent years, barely months actually, preparing and planning to go.   But now, we will live, at least for a time, in Boston.  

When unexpected life change happens, the realizations of your new life come fast.  Here's my newest: I'm lazy.  I don't mean that I'm opposed to hard work, but that I'm susceptible to lazy thinking.  You see, when you have a story similar to mine (and if you're reading this I bet you do), then almost everyone you know agrees with you.  The things we don't say, but leave unspoken, are a part of our cultural foundation.  Since most in the South bring these same assumptions to any conversation, there is no need to be able to defend your position; we all already largely agree.  These common understandings range from the purpose of government, the source of truth, the chief end of man, and list keeps going. We are moving to a place where the foundation is different.  

I'm being forced to retrace my thinking. This effort should drive me to Scripture, because it is sufficient to frame and inform my thinking.  It does not clearly answer all of our questions, but it does give us major principles that act as our guide.  We ought to filter all of our understanding first through the Bible.  

As I begin, I'm afraid that I'm finding that those foundational truths of our culture aren't quite as Biblically-based as our "Bible Belt" moniker might suggest. Let's make sure that our national or regional identity, our political affiliations, and our educational background have less influence on the way we think than does the Bible. 

As you begin, you may find yourself agreeing with someone you would not have before or it may simply deepen your pre-existing convictions.  Both are progress.

A word of caution: Bob reminded me that a perfectly articulated Biblical worldview does not save souls, nor is it particularly attractive to a non-believer. That work of making dead things alive is reserved for God.  Good, clear thinking has its limits.   

Caleb Rogers