Many of you have requested to see the message that I gave at the 2010 SBC Pastor’s Conference. We have been given permission to post this video on our website.

It is interesting how movements begin. I love looking back and seeing how history unfolds. Opportunities arise for people to step up and call their generation to see things differently, to believe accurately and live passionately. Some movements are short-lived while others have a lasting impact. You have micro-movements of subcultures—smaller cultures within the greater culture. You also see macro movements that can change nations or potentially the world. They are led by imperfect people who oftentimes did not necessarily desire to start a movement. God, in His sovereign plan, weaves people into His story to play roles that bring about His purposes. They are bit players in a bigger drama.
I have been thinking about a specific group of guys for a long time. I have watched their lives and considered the impact they are having. I have wondered how far reaching their scope potentially could be and marveled at how God has orchestrated their lives for such a time as this. I have often thought about how powerful the gospel is to transform and redeem as I have considered their ways. In short, this group has been an encouragement to me in a way that has caught me off guard. This group consists of four front-line artists who simply don’t want to waste their lives: Lecrae, Tedashii, Trip Lee and Sho Baraka.

They are Christian rappers who formed ReachRecords and 116 Clique with a passion to reach this generation with the gospel. It’s not gimmickry. It’s not ego. It’s not hype. They are cultural missionaries who use the medium of rap to share the message of Christ. It’s not unlike a medical missionary using the medium of surgery to win the opportunity to share the message of Christ. They are preachers without a pulpit, teachers without a podium. They are slowly infiltrating the hip-hop culture with turntables and microphones, seizing the opportunity to share the gospel by utilizing their gift as a platform.

I found their calling significant for several reasons. First, they are unashamedly preaching the gospel of Christ. Their music is Christocentric and culturally decipherable. Every song and every lyric points to the Savior in some form or fashion. Every event is a crusade. Every medium is an opportunity to preach.

Second, rap and hip-hop is far reaching in scope. Rap music appeals to the inner-city teenager as much as it does to the upper-middle class yuppie. This style of music draws from a diverse group of people. It is hard to profile; therefore, their reach is wide.

Third, they are African-American role models. The fatherless epidemic has plagued the inner-city and contributes to many of the cycles that continue to bind this segment of society. Here is a group of men being faithful husbands and faithful fathers. Here is a group upholding the worth of marriage and esteeming the role of a father. Here is a group deflecting fame and fortune to show that Christ is better. As they live faithful lives, a generation is watching.

Fourth, they are doctrinally solid. On the whole, the African-American church has been strong in faith but weak in doctrine. These men espouse the need for both. They are not watering down lyrics to make them palatable; instead, their lyrics are rich with sound doctrine that teaches the deep truths of God’s worth. They are Christ-centered, not man-centered. They call a generation to forsake worldly pleasures and seek prosperity in Christ alone.

Fifth and finally, their calling reminds me that mine is no different. We certainly have different mediums and spheres of influence, but I am called to unashamedly preach the gospel of Christ. God has placed me in an arena of influence in which I am to be faithful. I am a role model to the next generation. Even if I impact no one else, I will impact my family. I want my wife to marvel at the love of God because of how I love her. I want my children to see a marriage saturated with grace, godliness and goodness. I want to pass on to my little ones the beautiful reality of the Savior and watch them, by God’s grace, pass it along to their own. I want to see chains broken and new branches of a family tree begin. I desire to see our little home play its part well in the drama of God’s unfolding, redemptive story. I want to teach them the rich and deep truths of Scripture. I want our home to be free in the Lord and bound in His love. Regardless of musical taste, we have a lot more in common through Christ. It is stronger than beats or rhythms. It’s a family called the Church and each member is faithfully playing their part.

I hope this is much bigger than a movement. I hope it’s a revolution, a gospel-centered revolution. Rap it. Preach it. Live it. Don’t waste your life.

jp

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Obviously there are other people contributing to this work and influencing the movement. You should also check out:

• Dhati Lewis; twitter.com/dhati and Blueprint Church in Atlanta.

• Eric Mason; twitter.com/Emase73> and Epiphany Fellowship in Philly.

• Adam Thomason; twitter.com/redrev and The Red Revolution in Dallas.

The Village can sometimes look like a trauma center. Since 2002, we have asked God to send us broken, hurting people to proclaim the gospel to, and He has. It’s messy and at times exhausting, but watching God work in the severely wounded is a beautiful thing.

A key piece to anyone recovering from a broken and sinful world is an understanding of what the problem is. Everyone knows there is something wrong with the world, but what you think the problem is will determine how you try and solve it. Unfortunately, most people spend all their efforts on symptoms rather than the disease that’s causing those symptoms.

“Grace-Driven Effort” goes after the heart. I am always amazed at how so many people have separated their actions from their hearts. There is a reason you have a crummy marriage, lack patience, are always angry and addicted to ________________.

There is a reason you have to tear down other women constantly and why you feel led to point out their flaws and failures. The reason is you have a wicked, idolatrous heart. If you simply try to handle the symptoms without addressing your heart as the source of those symptoms you’ll never see sin mortified in you. “Grace-Driven Effort” uses the weapons of grace on our hearts not just to manage a behavior.

The following video can also be found on The Village Church YouTube Channel:

Let’s continue diving into the idea of “Grace-Driven Effort.” We have already stated that people don’t stumble into godliness. Paul uses great phrases to describe our growth into holiness and reflecting the Glory of God and His reign and rule over our lives. Paul talks about “training ourselves in righteousness” (1 Tim. 4:7), “laboring in prayer,” “running to win,” “counting it all a loss” (Philippians 3) and “beating his body” (1 Corinthian 9:26-27).

Paul’s language doesn’t paint the picture of sitting on the couch and falling into godliness. The problem as I perceive it as a pastor is that most who claim to know and love God want to see sin lose its power in their lives and walk in greater intimacy with Christ, yet they are exhausted and have been trying to mortify sin by promises and threats, rather than through the weapons grace provides.

By promises I mean they believe that they will have life to the “full” and get a great house in heaven if they behave in this manner or that manner. In Dallas, this plays itself out with church attendance and comparing ourselves to others. If I go to church frequently and am better than I was a couple years ago or if I’m better than other people who attend my church then I must be good. We love to compare our strengths to others’ weaknesses and grow confident in our goodness.

By threats I mean that many try to behave and modify their behavior because they fear hell and God’s wrath and so that they can earn their way out of hell. The problem with this is that heaven isn’t a place for those who fear hell; it’s a place for those who love God.

Another very popular sport in the Bible Belt is fighting residual sin with our own vows and resolutions; these become our defense. In the end, as we have already discussed you are simply pitting sin against sin and in that scenario, you lose. We fight sin and grow in godliness by using the weapons grace provides. There are at least three:

• The Word of God- 2 Timothy 3:16-17- “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” The Holy Spirit illumines the Scriptures as the “storehouse of weaponry” in the battle against sin and for godliness. All that we need to stand and fight are found within its pages. The reason I think so many people stumble about when it comes to residual sin and maturing in Christ is they have no idea what the Scriptures say when it comes to those subjects. The Scriptures are where we find and are trained to do battle in such a way that victory is found.
• The Blood of Christ- Ephesians 2:13- “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” One of the reasons Paul constantly preaches the gospel to people who already know and believe is because it is human tendency to run back to the law instead of trusting in the blood of Christ to cleanse them from all unrighteousness. You see this especially in Galatians 2:20-3:5. When we stumble and fall we run to God, not from Him. This is made possible by having God’s wrath removed from us and absorbed by Christ and Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. A mark of Christian maturity and genuine gospel understanding is not running away from God to clean yourself up and then come back, but a broken and contrite spirit that runs to Him, asking Him for forgiveness and strength.
• The promises of the covenant- Hebrews 9:15- “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” I remember singing a song in VBS as a kid about God hating liars; I knew I was in trouble. If the 10 Commandments were a quiz or test, I would have easily failed. I’ve been guilty of every one of them. The law was given to show me I can’t be perfect, that I’m going to fall short, that I am in desperate need of a Savior (Romans 1-7). When we stumble and fall, the Spirit reminds us of the Scriptures that promise that there has been a death for those failures and that there is a new covenant resting on Christ now and not on my ability to obey the law. This allows me to pursue Christ without fear and by “beholding his glory I am transformed.”

We’ll try and finish up this series this week with a blog about going after heart instead of action.

Grace-driven effort comes from a new heart. Without this new heart and this work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, there can be no grace-driven effort. (Ephesians 2:1-10). There can only be effort driven by the applause and praise of men or from pride or self –righteousness. Without the transfer out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13), we will simply pit sin against sin.

It is not uncommon to watch men and women battling their fears and anxieties with control or manipulation; their lust with self-righteousness. No matter which issue wins out…sin still reigns in the ring. It is imperative that we understand what the gospel is and why it is the good news it is. We have been saved by grace ALONE through faith ALONE so that no one can boast!

We will continue trying to define “grace-driven effort” over the next week. I think there are at least five more pieces.

Three different streams flowed into one another for me last week as I was preparing to preach out of Colossians 3. The first stream was Jared Wilson’s blog. I am a fan of Christ in Jared and have found him to be a tremendous thinker. On Friday, May 28, Jared quoted D.A. Carson from “For the Love of God” (Vol. 2):

“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

So Carson became the second stream. The quote resonated deeply with my mind and soul. It’s very true. I wanted to see how Carson defined and unpacked “grace-driven effort” and was frustrated to see that he doesn’t do a lot of explaining, which led to the third stream.

In reading, I was reminded of an article written by Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) on “The Difference between Gospel Mortification and Legal Mortification.” After reading, praying and studying, I have tried to define “grace-driven effort” and will be rolling out what I believe it is in a series of blogs this week and next. Stay tuned.

The following video can also be found on The Village Church YouTube Channel:

The following video can also be found on The Village Church YouTube Channel:

This weekend we talked about being “rooted and built up in Him,” and I mentioned the amount of resources available to you. I have done the work for you and included some of my favorites, although more than likely, I would not see eye-to-eye on everything with any of these men. They love the gospel as it has been taught for 2,000 years and have a very high view of the Scriptures that teach us by the power of the Holy Spirit about the nature and character of God.

I am provided links to their Web pages, Amazon page with their books and their podcasts where any of this was available. Enjoy, and I pray He grows you deep and wide! In no particular order:

John Piper

• www.desiringgod.org (you can buy all his books here for cost)
• iTunes – DesiringGod Sermon Audio | Ask Pastor John | Audiobooks
  (Search “John Piper” for additional resources)

Mark Driscoll

• www.theresurgence.com
• Amazon
• iTunes – Mars Hill Church (Audio) | Mars Hill Church (Video) | Audiobooks
  (Search “Mark Driscoll” for additional resources)

RC Sproul

• www.ligonier.org
• Amazon
• iTunes – Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul | Audiobooks
  (Search “RC Sproul” for additional resources)

Alistair Begg

• www.truthforlife.org
• Amazon
• iTunes – Truth For Life Broadcasts | Audiobooks
  (Search “Alistair Begg” for additional resources)

JR Vassar

• jrvassar.posterous.com
• iTunes – Apostles Church NYC
  (Search “JR Vassar” for additional resources)

Eric Mason

• www.epiphanyfellowship.org
• iTunes – Epiphany Fellowship
  (Search “Eric Mason” for additional resources)

Mark Dever

• www.9marks.org
• Amazon
• iTunes – Capitol Hill Baptist Church
  (Search “Mark Dever” for additional resources)

Ed Stetzer

• www.edstetzer.com
• Amazon

Books or DVD teachings you should have:

1. “Christian Beliefs: 20 Truths Every Christian Should Know” by Wayne Grudem
2. “Bible Doctrine” by Wayne Grudem
3. “Foundations” by RC Sproul

From these you will find a whole world of other studies, sermons and resources to help you explore the Scriptures and the God they point to in ways that will root and build you up in Him.