De Soto Community Church

This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.

In honor of Reformation Sunday we began our time together by remembering why we are Protestant.  We remembered the day nearly 500 years ago when a Monk and a Mallet changed the world.  We remembered what had to transpire for the church to be turned upside down by the Catholic who could never get right with God.  Contrary to the raw bag of goods that Tetzel and the Pope had been selling Martin Luther came preaching Justification on the basis of Faith alone in Christ alone.

Luther was not the first to confront Bad Theology as we have witnessed Paul warring against the same in his letter to the church in Colosse.  On Sunday we focused in on Colossians 2:16-23 and  the Deception of Bad Theology; noting what Bad Theology is, Where it leads to and finally where the Remedy could be found.

The heresy Paul confronted in Colosse consisted mainly of an amalgum of Judaism, Gnosticism and other prevalent philosophies of the day.  The result of these combinations lead to one of two perverted camps.  One camp sold a Jesus+Rules Salvation leading to Legalism.  The second camp preached a gospel characterized by Jesus+Experience leading to syncretism.  Both of these are perverted for the True Gospel is Jesus+Nothing.  In order to spot Bad Theology we pointed to a few characteristics of Bad Theology.  Bad Theology is:

1. Judgment Based instead of Grace Based
2. Concerned with the Temporary instead of the Eternal
3. Focused on Outward Action instead of Inward Change
4. Man Centered instead of Christ Centered
5. Extra Biblical
6. Selective

We saw that Bad Theology leads to Legalism and Syncretism.  Legalism is when we add to the Gospel a list of Rules and Regulations over and against what the Bible has laid down.  Syncretism is when we throw Jesus into a pot with New Age Spirituality, defunct types of supernatural worship or any other experiential element and create a freak God we Worship instead of the One True God (Read Oprah here).  In addition Bad Theology leads to Pride and a misplacement of God as we think we “know better” and even go so far as to look for vacancies within the Trinity.

The Rememdy according to Paul is to remember where the true Substance lies, not in law keeping or experience seeking, but in Christ.  Many of us have become Sleepy Hollow Christians becoming disconnected from our head who is Jesus and much like the horseman in the mythical tale, replacing it with a pumpkin or much worse.

This Sunday we will dig deeper into where the true Remedy lay as Paul moves forward in Colossians 3:1-4.  A couple of questions to consider:

1. Why is it so easy to attempt to add to the Gospel something that doesn’t belong?
2. What are some safeguards against practicing Bad Theology?
3. How can I reconnect with Christ who is my head?

Any thoughts?

To some of you this may not be “new” news. If you have tried to phone in the past week or so and have encountered a busy signal, I apologize. For some reason our phone here at home has been out of whack and I have been unable to get the problem remedied in a timely manner. (oddly enough, the internet still is working though…) So, until further ado, please email me.

Thanks,

Matt

Over at Missional Church Network Brad Brisco has a great post highlighting what it means practically to be a “missional church” in our ever changing North American Context. The main thrust of Brad’s post centers around three theological distinctions followed by five practical reflections.

The theological distinctions are as follows:

1. The Missional Church is about the missionary nature of God and His church

2. The Missional Church is about the Church being incarnational rather than attractional.

3. The Missional Church is about actively participating in the Mission of God

A few highlights

The Missional Church recognizes the purpose of the church is derived from the very nature of God which in turn compels it to be sent as a missionary people, individually and collectively.

Missional churches see their primary function as one of actively moving into a community to embody and enflesh the word, deed and life of Jesus into every nook and cranny.

As the sent, missionary people of God, the missional church understands its fundamental purpose as being rooted in God’s mission to restore and heal creation and to call people into a reconciled relationship with Himself. It is God’s mission, or missio Dei, that calls the church into existence. Or in the words of South African missiologist David Bosch; “It is not the church which undertakes mission; it is the missio Dei which constitutes the church.”

Go and read the whole thing and follow some of the links for great conversation. This has everything to do with what we are trying to accomplish at De Soto Community Church, being a church actively involved in the mission of God transforming our neighborhood and the world

I’ve just returned from a bit of a hiatus in the North Georgia mountains camping with my good friend Cameron.  There’s nothing quite like men cooking meat over fire.  Pictures will follow in the coming days, as I accidentally left my camera in Atlanta and it is being mailed back to me.

There will also be a few more book reviews up in the coming days of reading I finished while on my trip.  So stay tuned for those as well.

“Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care.” (Psalm 95:6-7)

This Sunday we will gather to Worship a second time at De Soto Community Church. It will be a time of praise and rejoicing, hearing from the Word of God and taking of Communion. Our focal passage this Sunday will be Matthew 22:37-39. If you want to cheat ahead, read Deuteronomy 6:4-5 for some background.

We hope to see you there!

This will be the blog page for De Soto Community Church and will also serve as Matt’s blog for the time being. Look here for relevant information, articles and other items of note