YOU!!! Are Scripture. – Mark Batterson
Company of Translators
We have access to hundreds of Bible translations in every size and shape imaginable. So we tend to take Scripture for granted. But I’m grateful for the translators, across the centuries, who devoted their lives to translating the sacred text into new languages. I think of the 72 Jewish elders recruited by Ptolemy II to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. I think of the 47 scholars who translated the Textus Receptus into Elizabethan English. Some translators, such as William Tyndale, even gave their lives to give us their translations.
The sacrifices they made ought to increase our appreciation for Scripture. But my point is much loftier than that: you are among the company of translators. For better or for worse, your life is your unique translation. Just like the Septuagint or King James Version, your life translates Scripture into a language those around your can read. God doesn’t just want to speak to you through Scripture; He wants to speak through you. He wants to write His-story through your life. And Scripture is the script.
How to know you are.
In my years as a Discipleship Pastor I went through a bit of a transformation as I struggled with how to best measure success. At first it was setting the audacious goal of having every member in a small group. When I couldn’t even get every elder in a small group it became abundantly clear that my goal was either unrealistic or just plain wrong. As I evaluated it also became abundantly clear that we really were not doing a good job as a church at tracking how we were doing. The two default metrics for every church to measure is attendance and money, and that is basically what we were doing.
After transitioning into my new role as Serve Pastor, aka Missions Pastor, I ran across Brennan Manning’s book shipped from Neue, aka Relevant, and it all became quite simple…
“How do your people love?”
How well…
How often…
Who…
Dave Gibbons, at the Story Conference, raised questions that really point back to,
“How does your leadership love?”
2 Peter 1:1-13 is a passage worth hanging on the wall of every Church Leader, Discipleship Pastor, and Church Guru. The end result in making Disciples is Christlikeness, and Christlikeness’s primary character trait is Love.
Verse 3 implies that our knowledge of Jesus should grow. Verse 5 implies that the promises of Jesus need to be applied for growth to take place. Verses 5-8 indicate that the end product of growing will be love for EVERYONE. In fact, growing in knowledge is synonymous with growing in love.
The Church is in trouble when partaking in Bible Study is more important than serving widows, orphans, and the poor. Studying the Bible is beneficial, but it should never be done in lieu of or instead of APPLYING it through acts of service to the unloved.
Here’s the rub…this is not easy, nor comfortable. This kind of love is a violent kind of love that reaches inside the hearts of people exposes their wicked and diseased hearts and offers the balm of the blood of Jesus Christ that will heal them. More on this later…
Chris Seay and Nancy Beach Musings from Story 2009
I didn’t take many notes on these two, because there was so much of their story wrapped up in what they had to say, but these thoughts are what I needed to take away.
Musings from Chris Seay
We are shaped by the stories of our ancestors. A portion of who we are is the way that it is because they were the way that they were.
Our sermons need to be less about five things to do or three points. They need to tell a story, The Story, in such a way that people are driven to the scriptures in order to discover for themselves what it means.
Musings from Nancy Beach
The Gospel is three parts: part tragedy, part comedy, and part fairy tale. The Tragedy is that man is a sinner and wicked. The Comedy is that Jesus saves us anyway. The Fairy Tale is that it’s too good to NOT be true.