Category Archives: Personal Growth

Mar 10 2011
21 Comments
Personal Growth, Theology

I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man …

Really?

1 Timothy 2:12-15
12     I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
13     For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14     And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
15     But women will be saved through childbearing– if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
(NIV)

I have been studying this and related passages for a number of weeks now, and am preparing to present a lesson this Sunday at Lake Merced Church of Christ covering 1 Timothy 2:12-15.

Before me lies a stack of books on my desk that I have already read articulating various positions, and today will be spent wrapping up my reading of Piper & Grudem’s Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood.

The 1 Timothy passage and related scriptures have presented me with the most challenging exegetical work I have engaged in thus far in my young career. After an honest and careful study, the answers emerging regarding: 1) the problem Paul is addressing in this text, 2) what the text actually says in the original language, and 3) proper present-day application of it are quite different from the answers I would have provided before seriously studying.

I’ll get into that more later, but would like to toss this out to you in the meantime:

How do you handle this text? Any idea what the problem is Paul is addressing? What’s the underlying, trans-cultural principle put forth? How do we apply it today?

Back to the books for me – more later.

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Nov 23 2010
44 Comments
Baptism, Personal Growth, Preaching, Resources, Sermons, Teaching, Theology

More from Francis Chan on Repentance, Baptism, & The Holy Spirit

A few weeks ago in this post I shared a short clip from the DVD teaching aid accompanying Francis Chan’s bestselling book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.

In the clip, Francis articulated his struggle to base his  beliefs strictly on the written word, and not on what others fed him outside of it. His conclusion from reading scripture only: if you want to become a Christian, you shouldn’t walk an isle and pray a prayer, you should repent, be baptized, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, he is the first leader outside of Restoration Movement churches I have ever heard say or teach this, and I was quite shocked to hear him do so (so were many others as revealed in the ensuing discussion). In the Restoration Movement, we’ve been teaching this for many years, and have taken much heat and been accused of many unkind things for doing so. It’s encouraging to me to see at least one ‘mainstream’ evangelical leader in agreement with us, and, at the risk of sounding pretentious, with scripture!

One commenter (Tyler Ellis – a campus minister friend) directed me to further teaching from Francis on this subject, and that teaching is what I would like to share with you today.

I encourage you to watch this lesson, take a few notes, and share your thoughts in a comment. This is the simplest, best lesson on repentance, baptism, and the Holy Spirit I’ve heard in a long time, and would love to hear what you think about it. It’s 39 minutes long, and well worth watching.

Here’s the video (if you’re reading this in a feed reader or via email subscription, you may need to come to the actual website to see it):

Love to hear from you. What do you think about this?

Thank you to Tyler Ellis for the sharing this with me.

For more teaching materials and study aids by Francis Chan for use in your ministry, go here. To access archived sermons by Francis Chan at Cornerstone Church, go here.

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Jul 20 2010
14 Comments
Evangelism, Personal Growth, Resources

Ed Stetzer: No Such Thing as “The Gift of Evangelism”

I feel a bit foolish.

How many times in my preaching and teaching have I referred to the ‘gift’ of evangelism? Too many to count.

So often was this supposed gift referred to by my mentors, professors, teachers, and friends that I never questioned its biblical validity … that is until today.

This article by Ed Stetzer led me to do a bit of study this morning. Here are a couple of excerpts:

[I believe] that there is no such thing as “the gift of evangelism.” Part of my concern is that I hear many people saying they don’t have the “gift of evangelism” and thus believing it is not their responsibility to do evangelism (since they don’t have the “gift”). And, since evangelism can be a challenge at times, that seems to be a “gift” that people don’t want.

Ed goes on to make four points worthy of ponder:

1. All believers are given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). That is, their role is to be agents of reconciliation and share how men and women are to be redeemed and changed by the power of the gospel.

2. Timothy was called to do his work in evangelistic ways (2 Timothy 4:5) but based on the fact that all are called to present the gospel of reconciliation, it makes sense that we can heed that admonition in all our lives. Thus, I encourage pastors to do ministry in evangelistic ways, but particularly church leaders (since Timothy was a church leader). Like in 1 Timothy 3, leaders are almost always commanded to do the things believers do– just more so.

3. The church is gifted with evangelists (Eph. 4:11) who help us be faithful doing evangelism. We should talk more about the gifted people called evangelists.

4. It is unhelpful to refer to evangelism as a gift because it removes the responsibility of all believers. In other words, many think that if they don’t have the gift, it is not their job. Evangelism is not a “gift,” it is a call to all believers.

Did you know there’s not a single instance in which the Bible mentions the “gift of evangelism”? The closest Scripture comes to this is the mention of the role of evangelist (along with apostle, prophet, pastor, and teacher) that Ed references in point #3.

I will no longer speak of the “gift of evangelism” – I’m with Ed … there’s no such thing.

What do you think about this?

Also, do you believe point #4 is valid?

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