The Heart Matters

Wrapping it all up (deli style)

Think of the church like a sandwich wrap. The mission is like the outside of the sandwich. It is wrapped around its fivefold purpose. This mission holds the church together and provides the reason why we do what we do as a church. The delicious, aromatic substance of the church is what is bound by her mission. The substance of evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship and community is her purpose and is held intact by her mission. (Oh, I had a hankering for a wrap today.)

Sandwich wraps = Church's mission enfolds her purpose

How well a church understands her mission and the reasons for that mission partially determines how effective and faithful a church is. Also to be considered is how well the mission field is defined. Questions must be asked. Who are we reaching? Why? Are we equipped to reach that particular group? What must we change to be effective without altering the substance of the message? These questions and more need to be considered, when there is a call for change or repentance.

Also, there is a need to assess whether a church is effectively performing her function through purposeful activity. This activity is the substance of church. This purpose is the work of those who belong to Christ. This is our witness to the world and it must accommodate the needs of its current culture and be willing to change – to repent.

Indeed, there is a need for repentance by the church. She is ever the unfaithful bride of Christ. Repentance goes beyond rethinking the church – repentance is heart change and cannot only be accomplished as our wills are submitted to the will of the author and perfecter of our faith. Our eyes must first be fixed on Jesus who “for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We too, as those who have been called to share in His sufferings as well as in His glory, bound together in love, must be willing to endure suffering and shame for the sake of those lost in darkness. We, as Revolutionaries, are called to subvert this current world system of brokenness, rigidity and slavery through the proclamation of good news, for Christ came to do as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 61:1.

 1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
         Because the LORD has anointed me
         To bring good news to the afflicted;
         He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
         To proclaim liberty to captives
         And freedom to prisoners;

 It’s time for a change of heart.

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Community

The last function of the church addressed by White is the purpose of community, also understood as fellowship. He identifies several aspects of community in need of repentance. These include a lack of authenticity, the presence of broken relationships, and a spirit of exclusion.

The absence of authenticity has to do with the leaven in the church, hypocrisy. Jesus reserved his most harsh and scathing remarks for the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. In Luke 11, Jesus warns them of their perilous heart attitudes.

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. – v 42

Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. – v 43

“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.” – v 44

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Worship

The activity of worship was the weakest segment of this book concerning the purpose of the church. White typifies worship as a service that mainly consists of corporate singing. This was somewhat surprising in that he first classified worship as gathering together in the temple daily, praying and the breaking of bread. I believed his emphasis would rest on acts of corporate love and service.

White gets it right that the traditional approaches to worship are stale and that these outmoded activities of worship do not appeal to a postmodern culture, but that is all he gets right, for his “rethinking” is more like repackaging the stale bread.

He likens the needed change to what Luther did when he changed the lyrics to beer hall songs and wrote the song, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” (This criticism is especially difficult for me as I have a soft spot in my heart for that old hearty ballad.) White proposes that we must rethink our worship services so that the songs are contemporary and that the format of the service is sensitive to those who are walking through the doors of church for the first time. He also believes that a “sense of the sacred” must be preserved as that is what postmodern society is seeking. I suppose to White sacred equals songs of praise.

Worship is not limited to groups practicing ritual and singing, but rather it is a devotion to the “one living and true God.” This devotion described in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 is one where the focus is not on the things of this world, but rather focus is on the Kingdom of God. To worship the Lord with devotion is to look to the interests of Christ (Phil 2:21) – to get on board with His mission. Also, worship is not the act of singing. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” This sort of worship happens in the heart. It is not saying one thing with your mouth and doing another with your life. Jesus made this point clear in Matthew 15:8-9, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Worship has nothing to do with rules at all.

Although believers can worship together as a group, it is more attuned to personal devotion. The question becomes not how are you going to worship, but rather who are you going to worship? Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy. To offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual worship.”

Now, I’d like to stress that singing can be part of personal worship. The heart is often moved along by melodies and rhythm. Often I have learned scripture coupled with song. At these times, my heart is lifted up through the melding of harmony, voice and truth. Recently, I witnessed Joni Eareckson Tada praising the Lord through song. Her brief outburst of a joyful song, a personal expression, edified those in her presence. I am not advocating that we all take up singing praises of the Lord to one another, yet in some circumstances it seems fitting. Why else would Ephesians 5:18-19 say:

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; (NASB)

Another common translation for this passage is:

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

The Greek for these highlighted words is τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν . This is the dative form for “te kardia umon.” The dative case in Greek can be translation either in your heart or with your heart. If “in your heart” is used, then it could be argued that singing is a silent act of the heart. On the other hand, if the dative is translated as with you heart, it could be argued that singing and melody making is an act that the heart should fully accompany. The difference is slight, but it exists.

Regardless of used translation, too much emphasis has been place on singing as a act of worship. The church as taken something minor and personal and turned it into the main act of worship. The church has warped a jubilant expression of joy and turned it into the focus of worship, “though hearts are far from Him.” God still cries out today as Jesus did in Mark 7:6.

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

So do our lives exemplify a “living sacrifice?” This is a personal as well as a corporate issue. First we need to strive as individuals to live sacrificial lives, considering others as better than ourselves. The needs of others ought to be a primary concern of worship. This includes not only a focus on learning the truth, but also on character transformation, for Paul makes it evident in Romans that our act of worship is a free offering of our lives as sacrifices – lives that are different – lives that stand apart from the world.

And so, if we are individually striving to focus on the needs of others and if we are seeking for God to change our characters so that we too may imitate Paul as he imitated Christ, then our local Body of Christ should emulate such worship. If it does not, then we are not imitating Christ. Then, we are not looking to the needs of others – including their physical needs, as well as their spiritual needs. We must challenge and encourage one another with the word. This is corporate worship, laying down one’s life for those in the church. Time to get messy.

• Community

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Ministry

The third activity that the church engages in is ministry. This the the outward focus on other’s needs that believers have whether it is caring for infants so that parents can attend a meeting, or it is driving preteens around to various group activities so that they can participate in healthy relational settings.

White lays out the traditional ministry format as beginning with a program, finding some people, selling, carrying out, and maintaining the program. Then he contrasts it with what he calls the ministry development process. In this process towards ministry, one starts with a need, matches the need with the mission, waits for a leader, builds according to giftedness and reviews this ministry regularly.

Our fellowship seems to agree with White process to ministry. I recall when Chill recruited the Scumbag Clowns and the respectable adults were asked to step down. One of those respectable members recalls (with good humor) this change as “the firing.”

The breakdown of this process went something like this. (This breakdown is the observation of someone who was not party to the building of this ministry.) There was a need for teachers in this ministry that could hold the preteens attention. The “respectables” were too nice and calm to maintain the level of excitement that was necessary to hold these ruffians attentions. The mission was for these kids to be excited enough about their youth group to both invited friends and to take a personal ownership of the group. There was a need for a dynamic leader. Though not proven as a leader, a polarizing man stepped forward under mentoring to co-lead this group. The giftedness of the team drove the direction of the ministry with varying levels of success, but the mission itself was met as the children were bringing many to its meetings and there were salvations among the attendees. As for regular evaluations, these were done as time and need presented with changes made as deemed.

Another example is what has been going down in OASIS. Start with the need to teach the children, to organize teaching teams, and to make the curriculum accessible to the teaching teams. The mission of OASIS is to train not only the children up in the word (while allowing parents to attend our Central Teaching), but also new workers on teaching the word. A leadership team was found from among the workers. The ministry has developed around the giftedness of the workers as well as the needs of those being served. One class had quite a behavioral problem. A servant award was created to be given to whomever was “noticed” for serving in faith or for having an outward focus. As the children grow and the workers move into other ministries, this ministry is evaluated and modified to meet circumstance and need in light of mission.

Today there is an growing need in the children’s ministry. As new couples become parents, a nursery had become necessary. The parents are willing to serve in this ministry. I, as a children’s ministry leader, am committed to finding an at site location to accommodate these parents and infants. As we launch this new class, I believe that God will provide both a location and a gifted nursery leader, who will manage the seen and unseen needs of this ministry. As more children are added and as circumstances change, the effectiveness of this ministry will be evaluated.

Our fellowship as a whole, seems very committed to serving others, whether through an organized ministry such as South Street and the Buffalo Missions Trip, or through more personal endeavors such as considering missions through financial support or joining the field. If a need is seen with the Body of Christ, people speak up and plan to get involved like when someone moves, is ailing, or needs some household repairs. We are an assembly that loves to get our hands dirty and lend a helping hand. Service is where the fun is.

•  Worship

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Discipleship

Another purpose of the church is to raise believers to maturity. White turns to Hebrews 5:12-13 where this point is made quite clear.

You have been Christians a long time now and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn’t very far along in the Christian life and doesn’t know much about doing what is right.

The author makes several excellent points concerning discipleship. Often we think that at salvation our lives will dramatically change, when actually this is just the beginning of the long process of sanctification. Next, we presume that we will naturally mature over time, when maturity requires far more than just time. Then, we assume that the change in our lives occurs as an act of our will, when change is more about training than about trying. Lastly, we deceive ourselves into believing that growth is accomplished on our own rather than as a result of team effort.

True, at salvation a person’s eternal destiny has been altered, but now the process begins. After 14 hours of grueling labor I was overjoyed when my first son was born. I gasped, “It’s over. I’m done.” Much to my surprise the wise-cracking nurse quips, “No honey, it’s just beginning.” This is what the life of the new convert is like. We too are just so elated and revel in our new found relationship, but live change is just beginning. We need to be upfront with those we disciple and let them know that this is just the beginning.

The time factor is something that should be considered. As seen in Acts 2, the new converts devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles. This too ought to be the focus for those we bring to Christ. You cannot have a deep and growing relationship with someone you do not spend time with. Not only should we spend time together in fellowship and in worship, but we should spend time alone with Christ, getting to know who he is as well as enjoying His presence in our lives, after all ”He is the way, the truth and the life.”

Life change is not merely a choice from our will. I cannot will myself to change at the heart. I can adhere to a set of moral conduct and require that I perform in a certain manner, but for all of my exertion, I can never change my heart. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the heart as desperately wicked. Ezekiel prophesied that the Lord would take man’s heart of stone and make it flesh. Change at the heart level is what lasts. This is the work of the Lord. This change requires a willingness to submit to the will of the Lord. Paul encouraged the church to imitate him as he imitates Christ. This is the calling of the the disciple. This is what leads to transformation in thought and in heart attitude.

This submission includes a willingness to train. Just because we desire to be excellent at a particular skill, does not mean that we will just acquire expertise. This is also true in spiritual growth. Paul wrote in 1 Tim 4:7 to his disciple Timothy to “train yourself to be godly.” What was necessary for Timothy is also for us.

There is no such thing as Christian growth outside of a body or mentoring relationship. We can deceive ourselves into believing that we don’t need others to change, but what man can be sharpened without another man to assist him. Hebrews says, “Let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.”

White pointed out that often churches fail to train its members on the practices of training. He observed that often a church will teach on the need for a certain skill, but that same church will fail to effectively teach how to learn the skill needed. Though he presented it more as a church program, the principles were well stated.

Once someone becomes a believer, there is a need to train. Converts should be taught about the life of the disciple which includes basic doctrinal truths. People need to be plugged into a small group setting and encouraged to build relationship with other believers. Here each member can challenge another on what the word has to say pertaining to a particular life issue. The prevailing challenge ought to be,”What says the Word of the Lord on this matter.” There needs to be a focus on character development so that the man of Christ can be complete, bearing fruit. People should invest their time and resources in spiritual development, much like someone would for a career. The meeting the needs of others should become a vital component of daily life.

As for our fellowship, the activity of discipleship is deeply valued and emphasized. As a body, the teachings are content filled and there are plenty of opportunities to learn and to be train in becoming godly. Our home church settings offer an intimate format for delving into spiritual truths. Our cell groups emphasize relationship, service and again truth. Though these resources are in place, I have observed that often there is a lack of zeal for learning the word or for putting what is learned into practice. People are frequently just showing up or worse yet are complaining that there is work to do.

As I have stepped out and lead a cell group of post-college aged women, it seems more difficult to engage in lively discussions about what is being taught. This is different from my experiences teaching a college aged group – one that was so excited about Christ. Perhaps, this apathy arises from a lack of understanding why this truth is important for me. Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship. The word that we study is just a means to know Christ and to guide us in our walk with Him. Perhaps, the older we are as believers, we lose our first love. Perhaps even more, it is that we cannot serve two masters. As we settle into family and career, we lose our focus on Christ and turn our eyes toward comfort and order. The world steals away our heart. We just don’t have time for Christ. Who has the energy to take a step of faith?

Take for instance this ecclesia class that is being taught this summer. What an amazing opportunity to engage in training and to learn about the mission and the purpose of the church. I must confess, that it has been difficult to focus on the work of learning and of putting my thoughts together in this paper. Summer is full of distractions. It is also full of opportunity. As I sit here typing – spending time with the Lord – I hear my call to repentance – my call to rethink how I do cell – how I interact with others when we assemble.

• Ministry

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 Evangelism

On page 43, White identifies that “Evangelism involves effectively communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ with the goal of converting an individual to the Christian faith.” Perhaps, the better goal would be to introduce someone to the person of Jesus and His offer of relational reconciliation. The gospel message is always the same, yet the manner which it is communicated changes with the audience. The apostle Paul affirms this as an objective of evangelism in 2 Cor 9:22, as he “became all thing to all men so that by all possible means (he) might save some.” In layman’s terms the good news must be contextualized.

When rethinking evangelism, one must consider the background, culture and language of the audience. As Jesus spoke, he used narratives and stories that his audience could readily comprehend. To fisherman, he spoke of fishing. To a women at the well, he talked of living water. He identified his audience and reasoned in their terms to convey a spiritual truth.

Barna has recently determined through research why non-Christians are not affected by the message of Christianity. This is important to understand, for the mission of the church is to reach those who are not believers. The threefold reasons given by those surveyed are that they “do not see the relevance of the Christian faith, they do not understand what the Christian faith is trying to say, and they have difficulty accepting how different the Christian answer is from what they though the answer would be.” (p 53)

The key to successful evangelism is to invite a person to into a situation where they can “seek and find a redemptive relationship” with Jesus Christ. Notice that the key word in this is relationship. It is not about building up some program or coming up with the perfect teaching series, rather it is about building relational bridges where people can understand the gospel. The message must be presented in verbal witness rather than displayed through merely the activity of Christian community. The gospel must be spoken in such a manner that it is understood and able to prove relevant in that person’s life.

In our fellowship we do well at being the fun neighbors next door, or the supportive friend who is there, but often we put more investment in the activity of fun at the expense of expressing the gospel of reconciliation. We build our warm bridges without the gospel being first and foremost in our budding relationships. The gospel must always be preeminent. Its relevance promoted, lest we chance to place ourselves in a bait and switch” predicament.

When the gospel gets the back seat, we lose an opportunity for seeing who is and is not receptive to the word, and as a result, we invest unwisely. To invest a great amount of time without substance limits the opportunity to successfully evangelize to those in our lives. Balancing the warmth of relationship with the substance of truth can be difficult, but again this is the activity of the assembly and we should depend and count on the council and support of the Body of Christ when evangelizing.

When we do get people to a meeting where the gospel is presented clearly, do we ask the relevant questions? Or do we turn the conversation to the weather or the latest entertainment scandal? What better opportunity than to talk about Christ and who He is and what He has done and what He is offering. Ask yourself, “As a Christian, what is the business of the church? What are we here to accomplish?” Or better yet, “Who do I need to introduce them to?”

White addresses the changing needs in evangelism for a post modern society. No longer is reason or facts enough. Now we need to communicate “So what?” and “How does this affect me?” A postmodern culture no longer understands who the God of the Bible is. They now must be introduced to Him just as Paul introduced the Greeks at Mars Hill to the one true God. Also, the postmodern person is seeking experience. They want to belong and to be part of the sacred. Another need in the postmodern world is that people are wanting to see an example of the transformed life. They want evidence that the spiritual life is genuine. People want to see practical models of life transformed.

In our fellowship, there has been great success with the Discovery Group model , based on Poole’s seeker small groups concept. People have been personally invited to engage in spiritual conversations. The relationships are built outside of meetings, through both group gatherings and one on one time. An environment of safety is established where attendees are comfortable to discuss spiritual values and ideas. Those non-believers attending these groups are exposed to the truth and have the opportunity to ask how it is relevant to them. They are able to experience the “sacred” through attending meetings where prayer, fellowship, and service are practiced. As for seeing the transformed, many hear testimonies and in time see genuine sacrifice and other’s based love put into action.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle for our fellowship is that discovery groups take a step of faith into the unknown. This step of faith can seem so huge, especially since so much is out of the control of those leading the group. It also can require a huge investment. But for those who have taken this step it has born fruit both in the lives of those hosting and of those attending. For those supporting the effort, a hindrance could be a lack of vision for how best to support the group. Effective communication of needs and well promoted and attended prayer meetings could assist others in the body to back these groups. The fruit born is evidence of the work of the Spirit which testifies to successful evangelism.

•  Discipleship

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Rethinking the Church - James Emery White

 In the Preface of Rethinking the Church by James Emery White, the message of this book is summed up in the following quote:

“Rethinking” is a good translation for the word repentance, for to repent means to change our way of thinking. It is literally “after thought.” Jim is helping us to rethink evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship, community, and the structure of the church. ~ Leighton Ford

Agreed, repentance necessitates a change of mind or is a way to rethink where we place our priorities or questions why we do what we do, but godly repentance goes even deeper than a mere change of mind, it involves a change of heart – from a hard heart (which is set upon self will) to a soft heart (which is humbled and is willing to follow God’s will with zeal). Possibly, the “church” of today has lost her connectivity to the main power source and the authority of Christ, who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Her bond to Christ is weakened by attachment to tradition, to institutionalized structure, and to rigid scholastic adherence to bible knowledge at the expense of knowing the person and mission of the living Jesus Christ.

With this in mind, not only must our thinking be transformed by the renewing our minds, but also our hard hearts must be changed from stone to flesh and this change comes not from our own force of will, but rather from clinging dependence upon the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who reveals the person and mission of Christ to us.

At Pentecost, the power of the Spirit was first unleashed onto the world through those who had been called out from a ritualistic and and impersonal method of relating to God. Those empowered by the Spirit turned from religion to relationship; thus, embracing and reveling in this relationship, the early church was born. This assembly of believers knew its purpose and was mindful of its mission, but does today’s church understand her role? Perhaps now is the time to look back and to evaluate where we stand as compared to the early church. Perhaps the current church needs to turn back – to repent – and to be as the Holy Spirit first instructed.

Though this change is a work of the Spirit, we as individuals and as a church need to consider what is the purpose and mission of the church, especially in light of the apparent “church flight” which Barna’s statistics demonstrate. Or to put it another way, what was and is Jesus’ purpose and mission? As people called from religion to a relationship with Christ, what is the work of the church? James White puts the work of the church in savvy business terms and looks to examples found in scripture to identify what the ultimate goal of the church is. A passage that expresses the purpose of the church is Acts 2:42-47:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

White uses this passage to break down five activities that purposed the early church. In Acts, the church busied herself with learning the “apostles’ teaching,” which White identifies as the activity if discipleship. Also,“fellowship” is the purpose known as community. The “breaking of bread,” coupled with prayer, praise, and meeting in temple courts, refers to acts of worship. Meeting the needs of everyone is identified as ministry or acts of service. Lastly, that “the Lord added to their number daily” indicates that the early church participated in evangelism.

As for the mission of the church, we need to understand the objective for practicing the aforementioned activities. For without a clear, stated mission there is no direction. The mission of the church as established by Christ is found in Matthew 28:18-20:

Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Here Christ commissions His followers to go out to all people and to make believers out of them and to train these believers in His teachings. Without understanding the mission of the church, it is possible to have a group practicing the activities of the church without having a personal relationship with Christ. Thus, it is important that a church understands why they are doing, what they are doing, and why they are doing it in such and such a way among a particular group of people.

In short a group of people may consider itself a church and not even have a relationship with Christ, who established the church. Perhaps equally as bad, it is possible for a church to function more like Christian social club that has no other direction than to maintain the group in number and form, with its effort focused inward, rather than outward as was suggested by being a “light on a hill.”

This paper will (attempt to) set forth what the author identifies as the purpose of each activity within the context of the mission and relationship, and then will address how effective our church NeoXenos Christian Fellowship is at fulfilling each purpose including where we, as a church succeed or fail at each activity and what changes or “rethinking,” or dare I say repentance, we may need to implement in order to best fulfill the goal set before us by Christ, who is the head of the church. (By no means am I an expert in this area, the emphasis ought to be on attempt.)

 Below are links where each purpose of the church is “rethought.”

• Evangelism
• Discipleship
• Ministry
• Worship
• Community
• Wrapping it all up

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Every good vacation needs a great book. Ludington, Michigan was my destination. My reading material was Mark Driscoll’s and Gerry Breshears’ book, Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions.

Mark Driscoll is one of the key-note speakers at the equipping-seminar held July 23 – 25th in Columbus, Ohio at Xenos Christian Fellowship. Each year, highly experienced scholars and trainers come together to offer their insights on diverse ministries. This year I am attending and am quite excited to hear Mark speak.

His clever book title caught my eye. Why a Vintage Jesus? What did vintage even mean in this context? I assumed that it had nothing to do with wine and that
Driscoll must be using “vintage” in the sense of “best” or “classic” – perhaps, “genuine” or “authentic” sums it up best.

The cover of the book is just so cool. I couldn’t help it. I kept playing with the white Mylar dust jacket – peeking through the clear lettering to view various icons and other images of Jesus. The images were quite classic and most religious in appearance. Enough on the most awesome cover. OMT - Sanguines, you will just love the gold face page of the book – so shiny.

So back to my question, what or rather who is a Vintage Jesus?

The dedication reads, “to anyone who takes Jesus seriously but not themselves.”

Not only was I curious, but now Driscoll had grasped my full attention – and believe me that can be a Herculean task at times.

This table of contents was full of questions – questions that challenged the reader on who is this classic or true Jesus of the Bible. Here is a sampling of a few of the questions discussed:

• Is Jesus the Only God?
• How Human Was Jesus?
• Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
• Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?
• Where is Jesus Today?

Driscoll’s book starts with a real bang and keeps your interest from page one to the final word some 200 pages later. He delves into these questions, his words leave a colorful impression:

Roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a dumpy, rural, hick town, not unlike those today where guys change their own oil, think pro wrestling is real, find women who chew tobacco sexy, and eat a lot of Hot Pockets with their uncle-daddy. Jesus’ mom was a poor, unwed teenage girl who was often mocked for claiming she conceived via the Holy Spirit. Most people thought she concocted the crazy story to cover the fact she was knocking boots with some guy in the backseat of a car at the prom. Jesus was adopted by a simple carpenter named Joseph and spent the first thirty years of his life in obscurity, swinging a hammer with his dad.

His down to earth – culturally relevant descriptions are refreshing and paint a gripping, visual picture of who the person Jesus Christ is both as man and as God. He doesn’t mince words or dance around the facts – Driscoll uses scripture to let Jesus tell the audience who he is and who he isn’t.

The chapter dealing with how human Jesus was stands out. Driscoll has it right, I’d say. People either ignore the divinity of Christ in favor of his humanity, or they ignore the humanity in favor of his divinity.

I grew up in a church that favored the latter – much like the author. In fact, I could so relate to his description of the conservative Sunday School Jesus that I laughed out loud.

Mark writes reflecting upon his childhood church experience:

Worse still, this weird Jesus really seemed to like sheep. I never saw a picture of him with a baseball glove or with other kids, but I did see him with a lot of sheep. Sometimes they even made us glue cotton balls to construction paper in an effort to make our own sheep so that we could apparently be as weird as Jesus. In short, Jesus seemed downright freakish, definitely not the kind of guy you’d want on your baseball team because he’d never have the guts to slide hard into second to break up a double play or throw inside to a batter to back him off the plate. Rather, he’d prefer to pick flowers in the outfield and daydream about fluffy sheep while praying for his enemies and keeping his emotions under control.

Whether you share a fundamental background like both the author and I, or if you come from a more liberal – humanistic bent, you will benefit from studying who the true person of Christ is.

Without fully understanding who Jesus Christ is and without being able to effectively explain to others who he actually is, then it is impossible to fully walk in the works that the Lord has prepared you to walk in. Knowing Christ is vital for his followers! You cannot convincingly speak of someone you vaguely know. Even if you know Him well – you’d better know your perspective audience or friend well enough to talk their talk.

This book puts the who, what’s, where’s, when’s and the why’s in such a fresh perspective that clears the air of the musty, old ways of the traditional church. He puts that Old, Old Story in some updated clothes (or shiny cover) and uses the language of the people while keeping the authentic, righteous, judging, all-powerful, all-knowing, and merciful Jesus before the reader’s eyes.

Each chapter also includes quotes from both historical and contemporary people, some Christians and some not. These quotes pertain to each chapter’s discussion and inserts other perspectives to each query. I found these quotes to be eye opening and even shocking at times.

So who exactly is the Vintage Jesus? Read Mark Driscoll’s and Gerry Breshears’ book to find out. I promise – you won’t be disappointed and it could change how you think about Jesus.

Read it before attending XSI if you can. I did and I can’t wait to hear him speak!

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