Tag Archives: Mark Driscoll

Sep 05 2009
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Books, Resources, Teaching

Good Resource: Mark Driscoll’s booklet on the Old Testament

I sped through On the Old Testament (A Book You’ll Actually Read) by Mark Driscoll this past week, and read the whole thing (slowly) within a couple of hours.

Here are a couple of excerpts from my notes:

What is the central message of the Old Testament?

  • Opening line introduces the hero, God.  Throughout the pages of the Old Testament God is revealed. In the closing line of the New Testament Scriptures we’re reminded that God who is the hero of the whole story is embodied in Jesus. Thus, Jesus Christ is the true hero of the entire Bible.
  • Jesus Himself taught us that the Old Testament was primarily about Him (John 5:37-39).
  • Following His resurrection, Jesus opened the OT to teach others about Himself (Luke 24:27, 44-45).
  • Jesus’ own words about Himself as the central message of the OT are pointedly clear (Matthew 5:17-18).
  • Jesus was completely aware He was fulfilling the promises of the OT.
    1. Luke 4:20-21
    2. Taught about His death from Isaiah 53:12 in Luke 22:37
    3. Betrayal by Judas was predicted – Matthew 26:56
  • Simply put, when the OT is correctly interpreted you will find it’s about Jesus as God, our Savior, the object of our faith, forgiver of our sins, and giver of eternal life. To correctly interpret the OT you will need to connect its verses, concepts, and events to Jesus.

The Old Testament Foreshadows the Coming of Jesus

  • Representative figures, institutions, or events that foreshadow Jesus. Examples include:
    1. Adam who foreshadows Jesus as the second Adam
    2. The priesthood which prefigures Jesus as our High Priest
    3. David and other kings who prefigure Jesus as the King of kings.
    4. Moses and prophets who prefigure Jesus as our ultimate Prophet
    5. animal sacrifices which prefigure Jesus as the sinless lamb of God slain for our sins
    6. The temple which prefigures God’s presence dwelling among us in Jesus
    7. Shepherds who care for their sheep which remind us we are as foolish and vulnerable as sheep, but Jesus is our Shepherd who cares for us and keeps constant watch over us
    8. Judges who foreshadow Jesus as the final judge of all people
  • We also see people in the OT who perform various kinds of service analogous to the service that Jesus performs perfectly.
    1. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus is the Last Adam who passed His test in the garden and in doing so imputed righteousness to us to overcome sin imputed to us through the first Adam.
    2. Jesus is the true and better Abel who, although he was innocent, was slain and whose blood cries out for our acquittal.
    3. When Abraham left his father and home, he was doing the same thing Jesus would do when He left heaven.
    4. When Isaac carried his own wood and laid down his life to be sacrificed at the hand of his father Abraham, he was showing us what Jesus would later do.
    5. Jesus is the greater Jacob, who wrestled with God in Gethsemane and, though wounded and limping, walked away from his grave blessed.
    6. Jesus is the greater Joseph who serves at the right hand of God the King, extends forgiveness and provision to those of us who have betrayed Him, and uses His power to save us in loving reconciliation.
    7. Jesus is greater than Moses in that He stands as a mediator between God and us, bringing us the New Covenant.
    8. Like Job, innocent Jesus suffered and was tormented by the Devil so that God might be glorified, while his dumb friends were no help or encouragement.
    9. Jesus is a King greater than David, who has slain our giants of Satan, sin, and death, although in the eyes of the world he was certain to face a crushing defeat at their hands.
    10. Jesus is greater than Jonah in that he spent three days in the grave and not just a fish to save a multitude even greater than Nineveh.

That’s just a sample – there’s a lot more good stuff in this book.

Driscoll nails the reason behind the existence of the Old Testament: it’s all about Jesus! That’s a conclusion I drew for myself a long time ago.

There are four books in the ‘A Book You’ll Actually Read’ series. One on God, one on Church Leadership, one on The New Testament, and one on The Old Testament.

I own them all and have found all to be helpful – especially the on on The Old Tesament.

Direct, to the point, and you can read the whole thing in one sitting.

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May 18 2009
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Leadership, Popular Culture, Preaching, Resources, Sermons, Teaching, Theology

Matt Dabbs: Our View of Jesus Impacts the Way We Live

Matt Dabbs wrote a good article you ought to read: How We View Jesus Impacts the Way We Live.

Yesterday, the question was, “How do you view yourself?” – today, the question is, “How do you view Jesus?”

Just like the question, “Who am I?” has profound implications for how you’ll think and behave in the world, an even more important question is, “How do you view Jesus?”

In order for your identity to be firmly rooted in Him, you need to know the real Him – not what popular culture has turned Him into!

Jesus Christ is the Son of God – the Lord and Savior of mankind and the only bridge that exists, and ever will exist, between man and God. That’s a view of Jesus rooted in the teachings of the Bible – the real view.

The secular view of Jesus is not quite the same as what I’ve just shared. Popular culture teaches that Jesus is nothing more than “a spiritual life coach” (to quote Monte Cox from the Pepperdine Lectures) no different from every other religious leader found in the history of the world.

If your view of Jesus is no different than your view of Buddha, Muhammed, Ghandi, or … the list goes on and on … then it really doesn’t matter if you decide to live a Jesus-centered life or not, because your “Jesus” isn’t real!

Living a Jesus-centered life is only a blessing to you and the rest of the world if your Jesus is the real thing – if He’s a fraud, then so is your faith!

That’s going to sound pretty tough to a lot of people, but that’s the message of the Bible, and that’s what Matt’s article caused me to think about this morning.

If you’re interested in learning more, Mark Driscoll has a couple of good sermons posted online that will help you have a biblical understanding of who Jesus is … check it out:

You may have to spit out a few bones, but Mark does a good job of breaking down theology behind what Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection mean for those who decide to follow Him.

Give it a listen!

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Apr 28 2009
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Campus Ministry, Church Planting, Evangelism, Outreach, Resources

Campus Ministry to the Forefront?

When I think “strategy” in terms of expanding the Kingdom of Jesus, I can’t get away from thinking about campus ministry.

I heard a great lesson from Mark Driscoll on ministry in the city a while back. Listen to it here if you’d like.

Mark makes the point that God loves people, sent Jesus to die for people, and that churches are meant to be where the people are. More people live in cities than anywhere else. In fact, of the 4 billion or so people living on this planet right now, most can be found living in one of the world’s cities. It just makes sense for their to be a concerted effort to plant churches in cities.

God loves people, He sent Jesus to die for people, and churches are meant to be where the people are. This is true.

Its also true that if you reach the cities, you can change an entire culture. Cities are where culture is made. Clothing fads, music, art, government officials and makers of the law, the very wealthy, centers of media and business, centers of commerce and industry, leaders in technological development, economists and sought after specialists – all are found in cities.

If culture is a river, the city is the source. If culture is a cloud of smoke, the city is the fire. You get it.

Driscoll is right about all these things – if we truly want to change the world, we must focus on invading the cities for Jesus. This is exactly how the apostle Paul operated. Most of the New Testament books he authored are named after major cities of the first-century – places Paul strategically travelled to in order to plant churches – circles of influence meant to expand the Kingdom of Jesus.

But Driscoll fails to mention something very important. I believe a very strong case can be made that, collectively, the university campuses of the world wield just as much if not more culture-creating power than anything else. In fact, if you visit the major cities of the world and carefully study the culture found within them, you’ll learn that in most cases, local university culture plays a very prominent role in shaping the “face” of the rest of the city!

If you want to get specific about a strategy to reach the world for Jesus, leaving the universities out of the picture would be a major oversight (to put it lightly!!!), yet that’s exactly what I see happening!

Think about who you can find on university campuses today. All of those leaders mentioned in relation to running the city? Yes, you’ll find  99% of them got their career training at a university before becoming a wheeler and dealer in the city. Do a bit of research, and you’ll also find that college-aged individuals are more open to the gospel than almost any other segment of the population (if you break it down by age).

The future leaders of the world are open to the gospel? Doesn’t it just make sense to get serious about sharing it with them? Then why aren’t we?!?!

As one who was converted through a campus ministry, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to think about all the college students who are searching for meaning in life, are open to having conversations about their spirituality, are open to meeting Jesus, but there’s no ministry, no church, no group of people – maybe not even an individual there solely and intentionally focused on introducing Him!

In Churches of Christ, there are less than 150 campus ministries present in the United States (some say there are over 200, but that’s a myth). There are over 2,600 accredited, four-year colleges and universities in the United States alone, and if you count two-year schools and community colleges that number soars to well over 4,000. Over 97% of the colleges and universities in the United States lack a Church of Christ campus ministry.

Even Campus Crusade for Christ – the largest evangelical outreach to college students in the world – is only active on a little over 1,000 college campuses.

The college students of today are the future culture makers of tomorrow. The college students of today are the future world leaders of tomorrow.  The college students of today are the future … yet ‘collegiate missions’ is a foreign term to most church leaders – much less church members.

I pray for the day when collegiate missions (i.e. campus ministry) will be as prevelant and as recognized a term as youth ministry. I pray for the day when it will be unheard of for a church located near a secular university campus to not have some sort of ministry for college students. I pray for the day when all of our brotherhood universities add courses and degree programs specific to collegiate missions.

I pray for the day when the Church as a whole decides it wants to forever change the spiritual face of our planet by reaching students in every generation, and I pray when that day comes the Church will put its money where its mouth is.

I’m praying for it, don’t think I’m alone, and believe that day is coming!

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