Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not the engine of the church. The gospel is. Without the gospel, both discipleship and church fail. Without the driving force of the gospel, discipleship devolves into self-help religiosity motivated by conservative pietism. The church is reduced to a glorified non-profit in which people lose interest. But the gospel reactivates both church and discipleship!
The good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us, changes everything! In the gospel, God in Christ welcomes sinners and sends out disciples. The gospel, not discipleship, is central to the church. If we make discipleship the engine of the church, we’ll run quickly out of gas. But when the gospel is central, the church gets traction and disciples get depth. (Jonathan Dodson, “There’s a Discipleship Crisis in the Church Today”)
by Richard Shin
Happy Friday! Here are some awesomely possum links:
- C Michael Patton has a fantastic article on the difference of our opinions for C.S. Lewis and Rob Bell.
- Tim Challies has an article on putting unity first based on theology.
- Kevin DeYoung shares an example of missional renaissance. Don’t know what that is? I guess you should go and find out.
- Michael Horton responds to an Arminian who says Calvinism is a “moral monster.”
- Ray Ortlund shares with us his thoughts on possibly the most under-obeyed command in Scripture: Romans 12:10.
- Sam Storms explains what Christian Hedonism is. If you flinch when you hear that term, you have to read it.
- We conclude this set with a positive one from Brian Croft: why local churches need to practice church discipline.