Mark Driscoll and Crappy Christians

Mark Driscoll has been under a lot of criticism as of late:

• Ingrid Schlueter assassinated him in her blog in regard to his talking about sex from the pulpit.
• The Baptist Press also wrote an article on him intitled "Driscoll's Vulgarity Draws Media Attention"

Both of these articles spoke very negatively about Driscoll and his "vulgar" speech. Now, I admit Driscoll is very blunt, but most of these are refereing to Don Miller's book Blue Like Jazz which is not really a great theological book. In it Miller refers to Driscoll as the "cussing pastor." This was around 10 years ago when Driscoll was still a relatively new Christian. Obviously Christians, espescially pastors, need to refrain from unwholesome speech and talk...but 10 years ago is a long time.

Praise God, that I am not remembered for my past or my past sins. Grace showed up big in my life, and because of that I have freedom from them.

I am okay with people targeting people who preach the Gospel. Most Pastors or Ministers would agree that to serve Christ puts a bih bullseye on your back and because of that people will always be critizing you...that goes with the job. The problem that I have is when a Christian Publication totally assassinates the character of a Pastor who is sold out to Jesus and doing all that he can to change his culture for the sake of Christ. The SBC should be embarrassed that it published that it let someone write such a horrendous article.

Upon reading the article it is apparent that the "annonymous" writer had an agenda against Driscoll...

Ed Stetzer (from the SBC's Lifeway) upon speaking to Driscoll wrote a response to the whole situation in his blog. Stetzer and Driscoll are friends and Stetzer admits to criticizing Driscoll's language. Now Driscoll has repented publically...that means that biblically we should forgive him and move on.

Now on a positive note...Driscoll has also had a great amount of positive publicity from the secular press:

• New York Times article
• ABC News Video Interview
• And most recently he was on D.L. Hughley's CNN Show

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/bestoftv/2009/02/13/hughley.cussing.pastor.cnn" type="text/javascript">

Driscoll is possibly the voice of the current generation...and he is apparently paying the price for it, but it shouldnt come from Christians...its a shame that the secular press seems to like him more than his Christian counterparts...maybe that is why is making a difference.

Dirty Dishes

"Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil. Fools! Didn't He who made the outside make the inside too? "

Luke 11:39,40

It seems as if there are a lot of dirty dishes within the church today. The church is infested with the Pharisee-like religion mongers, who claim to have geniuine faith, but are so corrupted that they make no difference within the world that they live in.

The Pharisees that Jesus talked about, where so fake, and callous and Jesus called them out on it. He pointed the finger in their face, and told them that they were in the wrong. What of the church of 2007? What about us? Where to do we fit in? Here in the Deep South, everyone goes to church, and everyone "believes" in Jesus.

We are just like the Pharisees. We have cleaned the outside of the cup, but the inside is filthy, rotten to the core. We are just a bunch of dirty dishes. But are we satisfied being this way? Do we even know what is on the inside? It seems to me, that we have neglected the hard commands of Jesus. "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Take up your cross, and follow me." "Love others, just as I have loved you."

We get so dressed up on Sunday. We put on our Sunday best, spray on some foo-foo juice to smell good, and a big smile. Then we get to sit in church and wallow around in our own self-righteousness. And for what? To have the outside of our cup look good.

But inside is a dirty dish. We must clean the inside of our life in order to be all that the Father wants us to be. We must be willing to let ourselves be naked, vulneravble, open to the Maker. And when we do, we will find ourselves clean, spotless, beautiful. We will find that we are no longer worthless, dirty dishes...instead we will be the fine china that is saved for the special occasion.

Lord, allow us to be who you have called us to be...allow us to be clean- on the outside...but more importantly...the inside.

dreaming...

adam