Seeker-Transforming > Seeker-Friendly

I've recently been reading John Piper's Swans Are Not Silent biography of Athanasius, and it's been very enlightening on the man and his ministry.

One little section toward the end of the chapter (before Piper moves into a biography of John Owen) was particularly profound for me as a young pastor trying to grow a church.  Emperor Constantine's conversion led to the legalization of Christianity (January 313), and this brought with it an influx of Arian Christians into churches where Athanasius was ministering (Arianism heretically teaching that Christ was a created being, instead of Himself being eternal God).  Piper writes that here Athanasius would have been confronted with the temptation to compromise toward an Arian Christianity that was more intelligible to the multitudes, but was unfaithful to God's revelation of Himself in Scripture.  But Athanasius, who upheld orthodoxy much of his ministry while standing alone, didn't compromise.  Instead, he stayed the course with the divinity of Christ.
 Piper continues:

"If you want to grow a church, the temptation is to give the people what they already have categories to understand and enjoy.  But once that church is grown, it thinks so much like the world that the difference is not decisive.  The radical, biblical gospel is blunted, and the glory of Christ is obscured.  

"Rather, alongside the indigenous principle of accommodation and contextualization, Athanasius would plead with us to have a deep commitment to the pilgrim principle of confrontation and transformation  -- the brain-boggling, mind-altering, recategorization of the way people think about reality."

John Piper, The Swans Are Not Silent: Contending For Our All (Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), pages 68-69.

While the very nature of communication requires the speaker laboring to use the same terms as the listener, the very nature of Gospel communication requires the speaker remembering that God's ways and thoughts are higher than man's ways and thoughts (Isaiah 55:10-11).  Thus the Gospel of Christ's glory truly preached will be considered foolishness to the world if it is made clear (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-25).
And so we are not in the final analysis salesmen trying to sell people something to fit within our listeners' own pre-furnished thought processes.  Rather, we are laborers for truth which creates new categories and thus new thought processes, that people who have never witnessed glory the likes of Christ's will through His Word be transformed by seeing God's glory in His face.
Otherwise, we may grow churches, but the churches themselves will be full of the unconverted who merely appear to have godliness (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5, Is. 29:13), but who have yet to witness the mystery of godliness, which is Christ in all of His glory (1 Tim. 3:16).  Thus our task is to speak the mystery, let the Spirit draw people through it, and not ourselves so toy with contextualization that we also toy with unfaithfulness.  It might require our reputations in the world, but it will gain us eternity with our Lord.  Let us not forget, right doctrine saves both ourselves and our hearers (1 Tim. 4:16).

As Piper concludes of Athanasius, confrontation and transformation must come alongside of accommodation and contextualization.  We are to never lose accessibility and clarity.  But we are also never to lose truth at the expense of the former.  This tension is where the minister lives.  And if the Lord has begun the work in us, He will surely complete it.  See: Athanasius.

Why We Need Tests

"The testing of your faith produces steadfastness" - James 1:3

I might be the only person I know who likes taking tests.

I have a difficult time knowing exactly what from professors' lectures and presentations I'm supposed to be internalizing and keeping for the future.  I don't think it's the professors' fault all the time (although sometimes their lack of clarity and brevity is at fault), but mostly the blame rests with my difficulty listening and processing at the same time.  Thus I take a ton of notes throughout the duration of the class - just ask those who consult my notes in preparation for finals.  Then the night or two before the test I go through my notes, highlight what I think is important, and then go in expecting that at least some of what I've focused on will be on the test.  Sometimes this proves unfruitful, while other times (most of the time) it works.

Then when I get to the test, I feel that I'm finally able to see clearly what the professor has wanted me to be focusing on.  While there was a lot of information being sent out all quarter, and a lot more (!) being typed in my Word document, that moment of flipping the page over and seeing the questions which I will be essaying about is a liberating one for me to feel like I finally know what are supposed to be the "takeaways" from the class.  And hopefully I've studied enough that I can answer them adequately.  However I do on the test, it has acted as a type of seal for the whole class -- I now have a summary of the class's content, with particulars as referents.

Like I said, I'm probably the only person I know who likes tests.  But you see why: I don't feel like I'm able to see the most important things until then.

Now, think about following Jesus.  Wouldn't it seem to be much easier if we never had tests?  Isn't life difficult enough as it is without the spiritual disciplining of the Lord, which He claims is for our good (Prov. 3:11-12, Heb. 12:3-11), but doesn't always feel like it?  If the truth were to be told, most of us would have to admit we at least initially (and perhaps, though hopefully not, still) follow Jesus because we hope He'll deliver us from both the present difficulties of life and the future ones.  But testing is promised in the Scripture, and Jesus Himself even says that temptations are necessary (see Matthew 18:7).

Furthermore, Paul says that Christians are those who not only receive trials, but rejoice in them (Romans 5:3-5).

But why do they rejoice in them?  Because they understand the bigger picture which God is painting -- they know that testing doesn't come as a threat to their spiritual vitality in Christ, but as a means to advance their spiritual vitality in Christ.  Thus Paul says trials in the end produce hope in Christ, while James says that steadfastness (another word for endurance and resilience) is the result of testing.  Note that James says testing of faith produces steadfastness.

It is often not until you take the test that you can see clearly what God aims for you to know.  But when you flip the page over, having studied, and having internalized a lot that you're not sure the purpose of, you can then see clearly.  That was for this, and now I'm ready to use it.  Now I can see what He's been saying and doing this whole time, and I can make it through this because I'm prepared.  The purpose of my Master is now clear, and I feel that the hard work of discipleship this whole time now has a seal.  And moving forward, I can explain what it was for.

Don't try to avoid the testing of the Lord -- it has a purpose.  Your spiritual vitality in Him depends on it.  Your relationship with the the Lord is not being threatened.  It is being strengthened, and He is pressing you more and more into His own heart.