I recently had the privilege of guest lecturing at the University of Texas on the topic of the Resurgence of Mission & Reformed Theology in America. Eileen Delao-Flynn, Professor and Religion writer for the Austin American-Statesman, was kind enough to extend me the invitation to address her Journalism & Religion class. The entire lecture would be too long to reproduce here. However, I have included a section on “Resurging Calvinism” below.

The "New Calvinism"

In an article entitled “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now,” TIME magazine numbered the "New Calvinism" as the third most influential idea changing the world in 2009. In an effort to explain this "New Calvinism," New Calvinists are laboring to shake off a fundamentalist, religious image and articulate the old gospel in fresh, biblically faithful ways. They are making five important distinctions:

1. Gospel/Religion:

New Calvinists point out that the Gospel is not Religion. This came as a surprise to some of the students. Religion says, “You must impress God,” but the gospel says, “Jesus impressed God for you.” Religion says, “Perfect yourself and God will be happy.” The gospel says, "We are all imperfect people, but Christians cling to a perfect Christ who obtains the pleasure of God for them." The gospel is good news, but religion is burdensome news. Religion tells us to perform for God, but the gospel reminds us that Jesus has performed perfectly on our behalf. The Gospel is not Religion.

2. Us/Them:

The Gospel makes a distinction between arrogant separatism and humble evangelism. It doesn't exaggerate an Us/Them mentality. New Calvinism doesn't evangelize out of superiority but empathy. We recognize that we all need Jesus before the judgment of a holy God. The only difference between true Christians and non-Christians is that Christians are recipients of God’s grace in Christ. But we all are equally in need of that grace. There's not one person in this world who needs God's saving grace more than anyone else. The New Calvinism does not pit the human race against one another—Us versus Them—but views all humanity in light of our standing with God.

3. Big/Small:

New Calvinism is recovering a gospel that is bigger than "fire insurance" from hell. It is articulating the gospel as “good news” for the whole world—society, culture, people, and the environment. The gospel is not an LCD, a lowest common denominator of the bare minimum facts you have to believe to get into heaven. Rather, it is a TOE, a theory of everything that addresses God’s purpose for humanity, society, culture, cities, environment, justice, and the future. It possesses an explanatory power that addresses everything from human motivation to environmental concerns. New Calvinists are embracing all goodness, truth, and beauty as God’s truth, goodness, and beauty, and redemptively engaging those things that are false, ugly, and evil. The gospel is much bigger than people think, but it is not smaller than personal redemption.

4. Conservative/Liberal:

New Calvinists are distancing the gospel from politics. They are not preaching a political gospel, though the gospel does have political implications. In short, Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat.

5. Urban/Suburban:

New Calvinists are returning to the city, to engage the beauty and brokenness of urban life. They are recovering a commitment to justice and mercy in the city, returning to cities from the white suburban flight.

Where Do These Distinctions Come From?

These distinctions are the direct result of a high view of the sovereignty of God—his reign over all of life, not just in so-called religious matters. These distinctions flow from a big gospel that can be articulated as the good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new for those who hope in him. The dying-rising-from-the-dead Messiah alone has the power to break the back of evil, redeem sin, and exchange life for death. It is the gospel that awakens us to this marvelous news.

Continuity from the Old to the New Calvinism

Much more could be said regarding this resurgence. One student asked what remains the same between the "Old Calvinism" and the "New Calvinism." There is much more continuity between the New Calvinism and John Calvin than with some of his followers. However, what essentially remains the same is the soteriological core—God's sovereign grace in redeeming broken sinners, which has been popularly captured by the TULIP acronym: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints (limited atonement appears to be more negotiable among the New Calvinists). This understanding of God’s sovereignty over salvation extends into a life lived under his sovereignty post-salvation.

The TULIP is flowering more vibrantly than it has for some time in the U.S. The Reformed resurgence has led to a missional resurgence that is set on holding the formerly "liberal" and "conservative" agendas together with the gospel, promoting robust engagement of social, cultural, and spiritual spheres of life. In this regard, the New Calvinism has more in common with the Calvinism of Abraham Kuyper, who argued that Calvinism is not merely a soteriological system, but an entire life- and worldview. The New Calvinism is broader than some of its narrower conceptions. All in all, I believe this resurgence is a very positive resurgence, a winsome Calvinism for the 21st century that advocates a whole gospel for the whole person and country.

Re:Sound

The musical arm of the Resurgence offers music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse, and musically excellent. Find out more.

I've been asked several times in the last couple of days about whether I'm upset about the new remix of "We Are the World."



The Christians contacting me about this are disturbed by what they see as a startling omission from the '80s-era song in its 21st century update, performed by artists in support of Haiti relief. Willie Nelson's line "As God has shown us by turning stone to bread..." is gone. These Christians are outraged, and they wonder if I am too.


Well, yes, I am outraged. Willie Nelson should have been invited to participate. He's still every bit as talented as he was in 1985, and if Nick Jonas can be invited, then certainly Willie should've been too.


Oh wait.



That's not what these folks are outraged about. They're afraid this is indicative of the secularization of American pop culture, and that there should be a Christian backlash.



But wait, again.



God didn't turn stones into bread. 

It was Satan, not God, who suggested our Lord Jesus turn rocks into bread (Matt. 4:3-4). God sends bread down from heaven (Exod. 16), a Manna he ultimately gives to us in the body of Jesus (Jn. 6), signified in the communion meal (1 Cor. 11).


Misguided Christian Outrage

These Christians mean well. They don't want to see the gospel disrespected. But there's something parabolic here, I think. It's the same sort of thing we see when Stephen Colbert interviews a U.S. Congressman who wants to legislate the Ten Commandments in federal courthouses but can't name them. We'd almost rather have the affirmation than the revelation.


Why are we so desperate to see "God" affirmed by the outside culture, even when the "God" they're talking about more closely resembles Zeus (or, as in this case, Lucifer) than Yahweh? When we reach this point of perpetual outrage, are we closer to identity politics than gospel proclamation? I'm afraid so.



Could it be that the problem is we really want the reassurance that we're "normal"? We'd like a shout-out in our pop culture and our political speeches to signify that we're acceptable, that Christianity isn't really all that freakish. But, if that happens, apart from submission to the Cross, is it really Christianity anymore (Jas. 4:4)?


Preaching vs. Product Placement


What if, instead, we loved the world the way God does (Jn. 3:16), and not the way the satanic powers ask us to? What if we loved the world through verbal proclamation and self-sacrificial giving, not by seeking product placement for the Trinity? Rather than expecting our politicians and musicians and actors to placate us with platitudes to some generic god, let's work with them where we can on "doing good to all people" (Gal. 6:10). Let's proclaim the God of a crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus. And let's teach our kids and our converts the actual content of the biblical revelation.


That project is more difficult than signing Facebook petitions. But it's more Christian than pouting when our culture mavens misspell "Elohim" on the golden calves we've asked them to make for us.

You can find Dr. Moore’s writing and preaching at Moore to the Point.

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1. The opportunity for extensive culture-making in the U.S.

In an interview, sociologist Peter Berger observed that in the U.S. evangelicals are shifting from being largely a blue-collar constituency to becoming a college educated population.

His question is, will Christians going into the arts, business, government, the media, and film

• assimilate to the existing baseline cultural narratives so they become in their views and values the same as other secular professionals and elites?
• seal off and privatize their faith from their work so that, effectively, they do not do their work in any distinctive way?
• or will they do enough new Christian 'culture-making' in their fields to change things?

2. The rise of Islam

How do Christians relate to Muslims when we live side by side in the same society? The record in places like Africa and the Middle East is not encouraging! This is more of an issue for the Western church in Europe than in the U.S., but it is going to be a growing concern in America as well.

How can Christians be at the very same time a) good neighbors, seeking their good whether they convert or not, and still b) attractively and effectively invite Muslims to consider the gospel?

3. The new non-Western Global Christianity

The demographic center of Christian gravity has already shifted from the West to Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The rising urban churches of China may be particularly influential in the future. But the West still has the educational institutions, the money, and a great deal of power.

What should the relationship of the older Western churches be to the new non-Western church? How can we use our assets to serve them in ways that are not paternalistic? How can we learn from them in more than perfunctory ways?

4. The growing cultural remoteness of the gospel

The basic concepts of the gospel—sin, guilt and accountability before God, the sacrifice of the cross, human nature, afterlife—are becoming culturally strange in the West for the first time in 1500 years. As Lesslie Newbigin has written, it is time now to 'think like a missionary'—to formulate ways of communicating the gospel that both confront and engage our increasingly non-Christian Western culture.

How do we make the gospel culturally accessible without compromising it? How can we communicate it and live it in a way that is comprehensible to people who lack the basic 'mental furniture' to even understand the essential truths of the Bible?

5. The end of prosperity?

With the economic meltdown, the question is, will housing values, endowments, profits, salaries, and investments go back to growing at the same rates as they have for the last twenty-five years, or will growth be relatively flat for many years to come? If so, how does the Western church, which has become habituated to giving out of fast-increasing assets, adjust in the way it carries out ministry? For example, American ministry is now highly professionalized—church staffs are far larger than they were two generations ago, when a church of 1,000 was only expected to have, perhaps, two pastors and a couple of other part-time staff. Today such a church would have probably eight to ten full-time staff members.

Also, how should the stewardship message adjust? If discretionary assets are one-half of what they were, more risky, sacrificial giving will be necessary to do even less ministry than we have been doing.

On top of this, if we experience even one significant act of nuclear or bio-terrorism in the U.S. or Europe, we may have to throw out all the basic assumptions about social and economic progress we have been working off for the last 65 years. In the first half of the 20th century, we had two World Wars and a Depression. Is the church ready for that? How could it be? What does that mean?

Copyright © 2010 by Tim Keller. Used by permission.
Check out more content from Dr. Keller at Redeemer City to City.

Resurgence Literature

Re:Lit is a ministry of Resurgence. There you will find a growing line of books to help guide the resurgence of the new reformed. Find out more.

Click through to the Resurgence if you can't see the video.

Michael Horton explains moralistic therapeutic deism and how it shows up in our churches and literature.

In this interview series, Mars Hill PR Director Nick Bogardus interviews Dr. Michael Horton. For more information and resources from Dr. Horton, check out White Horse Inn.

Exchange Conference

June 17-18, San Diego: A conference about identifying the Truth and the Lie of life. Learn more.

How should Christians relate to Muslims? Why should we learn about Islam? Sojourn Church in Louisville has a 5-minute interview with Pastor Daniel Montgomery about these issues on their Inside Sojourn podcast. You can also stream the interview directly.

Sojourn is also hosting a forum this week called “Developing a Christian Response to the Challenge of Islam,” taught by Dr. Albert Mohler of Southern Seminary. [Updated with link to the audio from Dr. Mohler's lecture]

Mars Hill Global

Serving the church and spreading the gospel. Help support this effort by giving to the Global Fund. More info at MarsHillGlobal.com.

In Martin Luther’s essay, “The Freedom of a Christian,” we read the following: “I believe that it has now become clear that it is not enough or in any sense ‘Christian’ to preach the works, life, and words of Christ as historical fact, as if the knowledge of these would suffice for the conduct of life.”

WWJD Is a Bad Question

Luther is claiming that asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is a bad question for your spiritual formation. Luther continues: “Yet, this is the fashion among those who today are regarded as our best preachers…and such teaching is childish and effeminate nonsense.” Luther’s 16th century words are still relevant today.

Thankfully, Luther explains why he considers WWJD a bad question:

There are some who have no understanding to hear the truth of liberty and insist upon their goodness as means for salvation. These people you must resist, do the very opposite, and offend them boldly lest by their impious views they drag many with them into error. For the sake of the liberty of the faith do other things which they regarded as the greatest of sins….Use your freedom constantly and consistently in the sight of and despite the tyrants and the stubborn so that they also may learn that they are impious, that their laws and works are of no avail for righteousness, and that they had no right to set them up.

Are You Offended by the Gospel?

Don’t get all excited because you now have a great theologian giving you a divine sanction on your favorite sins. Luther spends the rest of his essay talking about what it looks like to love God and your neighbor. He is no antinomian.

But do get angry if you’re offended by the gospel. That can be a good thing because it points you to some good news—that the remedy for guilt and condemnation is NOT your better law-keeping or adherence to your well-polished moral sense, but faith in the law-keeping of Jesus. Because of Christ, you are already vindicated in the eyes of God. God’s riches of forgiveness and freedom from guilt, condemnation, and shame are offered not on the basis of working or measuring up. Rather, you have a right standing before God because of the righteousness of Christ.

So, what would Luther do? In the face of suffocating religion and moralism, he would offend boldly and celebrate the liberty of faith for the sake of the gospel.

Mars Hill Global

Serving the church and spreading the gospel. Help support this effort by giving to the Global Fund. More info at MarsHillGlobal.com.

Does Your Passion Have a Slow Leak? Click | View Series

Jesus Had an Internal Blueprint

Through the years, thoughtful students have studied the life and ministry of Jesus Christ from many and varied points of view. He is teacher, healer, evangelist, prophet, and discipler, to name just a few of his perceived roles. He spent days in some places and moved on rather quickly from others, leaving needs unmet and questions unanswered. He seemed to know when to stay and when to leave. He had an internal blueprint, a road map that seemed to guide him where he went, how long he stayed, what he did, and with whom he spent his time.

Well-Balanced, Well-Paced, and Well-Prepared

Jesus had an ability to know when to say “yes” or “no” to a perceived need (Mark 1:35-39; Luke 5: 15-16). He knew when it was time for rest and time for work. He accomplished more in 3 and a half years than many do in a lifetime. He never seemed to be in a hurry or “be driven onto a reef of frustration by other people’s demands.” He was well-balanced, well-paced, and well-prepared as each new day dawned. We can learn much as we observe what Jesus did and didn’t do.

In her excellent and provocative book, Jesus, CEO, Laurie Beth Jones made the following observation about the varied-but-focused ministry of Jesus. “Jesus had tremendous energy, and he knew how to direct it. He was so clear about his mission that he avoided many real and potential energy leaks.”

Avoid Energy Leaks

Everything I have read and studied about leaders leads me to believe that they are very careful about these “energy leaks.” It is easy to spend time, but the wise invest time for maximum impact. The area where we win or lose this battle is how we spend time with people. Those we decide to invest in are either passion builders or passion stealers.

A leader is a person who is always on the lookout for other potential leaders to discover, develop, and deploy. But if we are not careful, all our energy can leak out to passion stealers, stranding us on a sandbar of mediocrity and ineffectiveness.

To be continued.

Resurgence Literature

Re:Lit is a ministry of Resurgence. There you will find a growing line of books to help guide the resurgence of the new reformed. Find out more.

American Jesus

Stephen Prothero’s American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon investigates the various constructions of Jesus in American history. He argues convincingly that what Americans have seen in Jesus has been a reflection of themselves. The versions of Jesus that Prothero sees in American cultural history—Enlightened Sage, Manly Redeemer, or Superstar—are mainly reflections of American ideals and hopes.

Friend of Losers

In the Gospel accounts of Jesus, we see another version: Friend of Losers (Thank you to Steve Taylor for the brilliant song “Jesus is for Losers”). Jesus loved the spiritual losers: swindlers, whores, and drunkards. These were not people “achieving growth in noble virtues.” Jesus told us what to think about his mission for losers: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Good News

The good news is that we are all “the sick” who are in the scope of Jesus’ mission. In his commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther explains the good news this way: “Although I am a sinner according to the Law…nevertheless I do not despair, because Christ lives and he is my eternal and heavenly life. In that righteousness and life I have no sin or death. I am indeed a sinner according to the present life and its righteousness, where the Law accuses me. But above this life I have another righteousness, another life, which is Christ, who does not know sin and death but is righteousness and eternal life.”

Freedom and Joy

The result of this good news being true might be freedom and joy—freedom because we are not God’s enemy and joy because we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously. When Jesus showed up on the scene, he said he brought the kingdom of God. And this kingdom looked like a party to which all the losers were invited. The blind received sight, the lame could walk, and the sick were healed. There was much to celebrate in this kingdom. And many of his parables ended with celebrations and joy.

Why do we see so little of this joy or freedom? Have the old Pharisees, with their dour legalism, scared us away from joy and freedom? Have we domesticated the extravagant grace of God by relying on moralist techniques and disciplines? Have we overlooked the fact that we are known and loved by God? Have we forgotten that we are accepted and we don’t deserve it?

Recommended Books

A collection of fantastic reading material on various important topics, used and shared by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Find out more.

Since the release of Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship, the book has been viewed over 10,000 times and sold hundreds of copies. If you’ve read it, we’d love to hear from you at the new Fight Clubs Blog. What have you found helpful in your fight of faith? Where could you use some advice? Check out the blog and share some of your Fight Club stories, while reading the stories of others!

Gospel-Centered Motivations

We’ve reworked the title of Fight Clubs just for Resurgence readers in order to emphasize the gospel-centered thrust of the book. When a word like “gospel-centered” becomes ubiquitous, very often its meaning can be lost. We adopt the terminology without drilling down into its meaning. Gospel-Centered Discipleship drills down.

Chapter three focuses on various gospel motivations—religious affections, repentance and faith in Jesus, biblical warnings and promises, and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Grace upon grace for our discipleship. In the words of John Owen, God gives us “a train of graces” to fight our sin. And when these grace-saturated motivations become central, obeying Jesus becomes more joyful!

We learn to fight the fight of faith, not with legalistic rules but with gracious promises. We follow Jesus, not to impress God or others, but because Jesus has impressed Him for us. We become so acquainted with the Spirit, that sin becomes less attractive. This is the way forward in discipleship; it is the way of the gospel.

Forming a Fight Club

Instead of fighting or failing alone, the gospel calls us to join one another in the fight of faith. The book provides both a theology and a strategy to fight sin as the church—Fight Clubs. Fight Clubs are small, gospel-centered, fighting communities that encourage one another to beat up the flesh and believe the promises of God.

In these communities we can help one another uncover idols and recover Jesus. Three “rules” apply: 1) Know your Sin 2) Fight your Sin 3) Trust your Savior. Chapter five unpacks the “rules” of Fight Club. Read the book; form a Fight Club; and start fighting in the strength of the gospel.

Endorsements

Jonathan has done us a huge favour in writing this book. The best endorsement I can give it is simply that as I read it, a growing sense of wanting to fight sin grew within me. I want to be a card carrying member of a 'Fight Club' so that in community we can take sin seriously, encourage one another to believe the gospel deeply and pray for each other to respond to the Holy Spirit passionately. What else can I say? This is an excellent book. Buy it. Read it. Do it.

Steve Timmis // Co-author of Total Church and Co-Director of The Porterbrook Network

Fight Clubs is a timely book about gospel-centered accountability and age of anonymity and shallow relationships. Dodson has done a masterful job highlighting how the Holy Spirit uses gospel truth to give us new Christ-centered affections that dispel our thirst for sin. Moreover, he helps men see how they can come alongside each other to unearth the deeper sins and heart-idols that drive our more obvious sins. For those still playing at religion through surfacey pseudo-accountability, this book is a welcome killjoy. You'll never look at accountability the same way again.

Luke Gilkerson // Internet Director for Covenant Eyes

Fight Clubs addresses the core issues of a true disciple: identity in Jesus, worship of Jesus, community for Jesus and mission with Jesus. This book will help men understand the gospel and its call for believers to fight against following rules and fleshly desires by following Jesus.

Scott Thomas // Executive Director of Acts 29

Pastor Mark

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Making Men-Catchers: Click | View Series

Matthew 4:19—And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Conversion is most fully displayed when it leads converts to seek the conversion of others: we most truly follow Christ when we become fishers of men.

Our desire should be to be men-catchers; and the way to attain to that sacred art is to be ourselves thoroughly captured by the great Head of the College of Fishermen. When Jesus draws us we shall draw men.

Our ROLE: "Follow me."

1. We must be separated to him, that we may pursue his object.
• We cannot follow him unless we leave others (Matt. 6:24).
• We must belong to him, that his design may be our design.
2. We must abide with him, that we may catch his spirit.
• The closer our communion with Christ, the greater our power with souls. Near following means full fellowship.
3. We must obey him, that we may learn his method.
• Teach what he taught (Matt. 28:20).
• Teach as he taught (Matt. 11:29; 1 Thess. 2:7).
• Teach such as he taught, namely, the poor, the base, children, etc.
4. We must believe him, that we may believe true doctrine.
• Christ's own teaching catches men; let us repeat it.
• Faith in Jesus on our part is a great force to produce faith.
• We must copy his life that we may win his blessing from God; for God blesses those who are like his Son.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes, which are in the public domain.

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