A recent situation at Mars Hill Church has sparked a pretty robust online debate over church discipline. This post is not about that situation. I don’t know enough about the particulars to speak about it—nor do I really think it is my place to do so. However, I do want use the opportunity to say a few things about church discipline. Before I get to a few practical guidelines, I wanted to get two of my assumptions out on the table. First, church discipline is really one of the thorniest aspects of congregational life. There is no "Handbook ...

Over the last few days, I’ve been preparing a sermon on the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the grave. It is a story of death, grief and life. Death is our common enemy. It is an intruder with whom we are never to make peace. Death is not the way it’s supposed to be. Nonetheless, what Jesus said and did in face of death must change the way we view and experience it. Jesus said that he was the resurrection and life, and secured that promise with his own death and resurrection. Those who by faith are connected to Jesus share ...

We follow an ancient liturgical pattern in our worship, drawing from the wisdom of Christians who have gone before us. Every Sunday we renew our commitment to God, offer him our prayers and gifts, confess our sins, receive forgiveness, hear from God’s word, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. In other words, not much changes from week to week. Sure, we sing different songs, pray slightly different prayers and hear from different parts of God’s word, but the weekly pattern is the same. In a culture obsessed with the novel and unique, ...

Johan Khalilian’s mission in life is to “help people dream great dreams and foster the courage to live them out.” Khalilian is from Humboldt Park Chicago, a neighborhood known for its violence and crime. Ignoring the voices that told him he would not amount to anything, Khalilian overcame. He persevered. He dreamed and risked and now has become a voice of life to a generation starving for heroes.A friend of mine recently sent me a short talk by Khalilian entitled Voices. You can watch it below. In this talk to young people, Johan ...

You may be familiar with Jeff Bethke’s spoken word piece “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”. It went viral a week or two ago and got all kinds of attention. Predictably, some people thought the guy was brilliant while others thought he was way off base. Kevin DeYoung, one of the Gospel Coalition bloggers, wrote one of the more thoughtful critiques of the clip. Here is where the story gets beautiful. Jeff and Kevin actually had a mutually respectful and productive dialogue about it. Kevin sums up the exchange here. I think their ...

I was recently asked if it is more faithful for a church to pursue evangelism or serving others. Though it’s a good question, it’s the wrong question. We must ask instead, “What is God’s mission to the world?” and faithfully pursue that. What is God’s mission? God’s mission is to bring redemption. Matthew summarizes this mission when he says of Jesus: “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.” God’s mission ...

Tim Tebow is the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He is also an outspoken Christian. He is not a good NFL passer by a long shot. Statistically, he is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league this year. Most football pundits think that he will not succeed in the NFL. But he keeps winning. He knows how to lead a team and a locker room. Whatever the “X-factor” is for a winning quarterback, Tebow has it. On Sunday, he led the Broncos to an overtime playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are the closest t ...

Reflections on Matthew 6:25–33 Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of t ...

This time of year, a lot of people are thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Many of us take the turn of a new year as an opportunity to assess what we would like to change in our lives. I'd like to expand the conversation about resolutions and make it bigger. I want to talk about goals. Do you have personal goals for 2012? Why or why not? Like many of you, I have a complicated relationship with goals. I don’t really want anything to do with the triumphalist “self made man” who progresses from one accomplishment to another. I’ve also had ...