Against Legalism…

“He who forbids what God allows will soon allow what God forbids.” – R.B. Kuiper

Cole’s First Movie!

The Birth of our Son from Adam Mabry on Vimeo.

Church Planting and Future Grace

If you know me at all, you know that I’m an ENTJ to the max. I get things done. In fact, DOING is what I do. There is, however, plenty that terrifies me about planting a new church…

• Preaching the gospel to really, really smart people who don’t know Jesus
• Raising the insane amount of money that it takes to start a new church
• Moving my family to a new city
• Making new friends
• Finding venues
• Training leaders

And the list goes on.

The great news for me, for my team, and for the city of Boston is that I will fail completely, fully, and miserably if I’m looking at me for this thing to work. The KEY TO OUR SUCCESS IS KNOWING THAT WE WILL, INDEED, FAIL.

But, why is this good news?

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

It’s good news because if I know that, then I must look beyond me, above me, and outside me. I MUST DRINK DEEPER THAN THE SHALLOW TOPSOIL OF MY OWN GIFTING AND LET THE ROOTS OF MY LEADERSHIP GO DOWN DEEP, DEEPER STILL TO THE FLOWING AQUIFER OF ENDLESS, MERITLESS GRACE.

So, I rejoice that we will win, not because I’m gifted, not because I’ve got enough team, money, or popularity to pull off something awesome.  I rejoice because GOD PROMISES FUTURE GRACE FOR FUTURE TASKS, IMMEASURABLE HELP FOR IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS, AND SUPERNATURAL WISDOM FOR THE NATURALLY STUPID.

Future grace… my hope… Boston’s hope.

Just in Case you Thought you were Indispensable

Today I had a rare pleasure; I GOT TO ATTEND CHURCH WITH MY FAMILY. In my line of work, that doesn’t happen much. I think its happened 5 times in as many years.

I do a lot in our church. I preach, I lead worship, I run sound and video, I update all the graphics, I connect with people, I disciple young men, I teach, etc. So, on the way into church, I found myself thinking, “I sure hope they get on alright without me today.”

MISTAKE.

See, I briefly forgot that IT’S JESUS’ CHURCH, not mine. He’s more than able to make sure the show goes on, even if I’m not there.

Just in case you, like me, get to thinking that you’re indispensable, YOU’RE NOT and neither am I. You’re not God’s MVP, he doesn’t need you and he doesn’t need me, but he invites us to play anyway.

For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…

Church was great today because JESUS WAS THERE. It was good of God to remind me it had nothing to do with me.

Why I am a Christian: I Don’t like these Odds…

Something doesn’t come from nothing; that was the topic of my last blog giving some of the REASONS WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN.

A second argument supporting the existence of God comes from the FACTS OF THE FINE-TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE.  This argument relies heavily on the best physics of our day.  According to physicists, there are a set of CONDITIONS WHICH HAD TO BE PRESENT at the beginning of the universe in order for life to have come about.

SCIENTISTS ONCE BELIEVED that whatever the initial conditions of the universe, eventually intelligent life might evolve. But we now know that OUR EXISTENCE IS BALANCED ON A KNIFE’S EDGE. The existence of intelligent life depends upon a conspiracy of initial conditions which must be fine-tuned to a degree that is literally incomprehensible and incalculable. (Dr. W L Craig)

The argument from the fine-tuning of the universe goes something like this:

1. The fine-tuning of the universe is either due to physical necessity, chance, or design.
2. It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
3. Therefore, it is due to design.

What exactly do scientists mean by INCALCULABLE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE FINE-TUNING?

• A change in gravity by one part in 10¹⁰⁰ would have made life impossible.
• A change in the atomic weak force by one part in 10¹⁰⁰ would have made life impossible.
• The cosmological constant which drives the inflation of the universe and is responsible for the recently discovered acceleration of the universe’s expansion is inexplicably fine-tuned to around one part in 10¹²⁰.

Jeez. It’s almost like the universe was expecting us. Oh, and just to put those CRAZY-BIG NUMBERS INTO SOME PERSPECTIVE, there are only 10⁸⁰ particles in the entire universe… particles (like oxygen, hydrogen, etc.)  Just so you know, that’s a lot.

There are quite a few more numbers just like this. Suffice it to say that the chances of our universe having as its initial conditions those that allow for life of any sort are mathematically impossible.  To put it in simple terms, ALL THE DIALS WERE TURNED IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY, SO SOMEONE HAD TO TURN THEM.

For more on the fine-tuning argument, look here.

Dreams for the Future: A Church of Grace

Last time we looked at the first of Aletheia’s values: TRUTH.  Today, we’re going to mingle that value with GRACE.

GRACE is the context for truth.  Its been said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  It’s my dream that “aletheia is a place where it is okay to not be okay.”  Because God is so patient, so kind, so forbearing with us, we seek to be a community that is this way with everyone else.

There’s a balance here, and I love the GOSPEL TENSION this creates.  Church can’t only exist to deliver truth.  If this were the case we’d be mere clanging gongs, pronouncing true statements to a hurting people, beating them down with our propositions.  On the other hand, if a church is only there to show grace to people, then we show HATEFUL KINDNESS.  Hateful, because we deny them the one thing that will do them eternal good, which is the truth of the gospel.

So this is my dream, our dream, to be a church full of grace AND truth, just as Jesus was.

(This blog is also posted at Aletheia Boston, a new church coming to Boston in 2010)

Book Review: Crazy Love by Francis Chan

I HAVEN’T READ ANY CHRISTIAN DEVOTION BOOKS IN A LONG TIME.  There’s a reason for that.  Most of them that I read were squishy, soft attempts to help western, fat, lazy Christians find a lowest common denominator to their spirituality so they felt more “successful” in their walks with God.

This book is NOT that.

In this book, Chan combines a deeply biblical theology with a deeply practical admonition, which is to simply understand the crazy love with which God has loved us, and to go and love others with the same, crazy love.

Doesn’t sound too controversial, right? That’s what I thought… until I read it.

Chan walks the reader through the amazing ways in which God has loved us (the vastness and beauty of creation, the intricacies of the cell, the love of sending his own Son to die for sinful man), and just when he had me amen-ing to all that fantastic theology he gave me a SWIFT KICK IN THE MIDDLE by asking…

Why do we treat others as though none of that is true?

Ouch.

This book, if anything, was immensely focusing.  It admonishes the life lived on purpose for God and others.  So, here’s the rundown…

• I loved the seriousness with which Chan takes Scriptures as God’s very words, not a life-improvement manual.
• I loved the first half of the book making a theological case for a life given away in love.
• I loved what this book helped do in my heart, to reassess my priorities, my time, my money.

If there’s any downside it may have come from the examples.  Some of the lives he describes can begin to feel a little “social-gospelly” to the average reader.  And if you only read the second half of the book, you might think that he only cares about doing acts of kindness. But I think that this is balanced well by the theological foundation he builds in the first half.  HE EARNS THE CREDIBILITY TO PUNCH THE READER IN THE NOSE… AND HE DOES.

Overall, I thought this was a GREAT BOOK, and I’m glad I read it.  I’m deeply challenged still, and I finished it weeks ago.  Rarely does a book’s message hit me that long and hard. I would highly recommend it.

Three Books I’m Reading this Month

As the illustrious Gabe Bouch told me, READERS ARE LEADERS AND TV WATCHERS ARE BOTTOM FEEDERS. Don’t get me wrong, I like some TV every now and again, though…

So, here’s what I’m reading this month:

The Future of Justification (John Piper) – In recent months I’ve become more interested in some of the debate surrounding the doctrine of Justification.  So, I’m reading Johnny P’s take on the issue.  Next I’ll pick up N.T. Wright’s side, and hopefully that’ll make for some good blogging.  Very important doctrine, since it’s all about how our sin is dealt with, and that’s something that we sort of want to get right.

Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century (Aubrey Malphurs) – Malphurs is one of the godfather of modern church planting in many respects, and since I’m planting a church soon, I thought it would be good to keep reading great books about planting great churches.

Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Julia Annas) – I picked this book up a while back, and it’s just a small book about ancient philosophy (you’d have never guessed that from the title, right?)  Annas has written a handful of books like this, so I plan on reading my way through them.  It’s good to know where all our good ideas came from (and the bad ones too.)

So, WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Words

My mom always told me, “Adam, its not what you say but how you say it.”  True… mostly.  However, WHAT you say is pretty important too.  In fact, it would appear that its all pretty important.

IT MAY COME AS A SHOCK to some of you that I am both verbose and opinionated.  This has its advantages and disadvantages.  Yesterday I allowed my words to damage rather than to build.  Amazing how once words are put out there, they can’t be taken back, and no amount of other words really helps to undo what has been done.  In fact, that’s a bit like setting fires to stop fires.  MORE FIRE DOESN’T USUALLY HELP THE BURN STOP.

And the tongue is a FIRE, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, SETTING ON FIRE the entire course of life, and SET ON FIRE BY HELL.

So, be careful what you say AND be careful how you say it.  You can’t take words back.

Check Me Out!

Okay, that sounded a bit too cool.  But seriously, what do you think of the NEW LOOK?

Fresh.  Exciting.  Updated.

or, lame.  Hopefully NOT LAME.
LET ME KNOW what you think!