GBC Core Values: Part Three

Written by: Josh Mathews

The five Core Values of Gresham Bible church are:

• Knowing God deeply in his word

• Praying fervently for God’s purposes in the world

• Making God known by spreading the gospel locally and globally

• Fostering unity and building up the body through genuine community

• Expressing a growing love for Jesus in a life of worship

In the first two posts in this series (you can read them HERE and HERE) we introduced these core values and looked more closely at the first two values, Knowing God deeply in his word, and Praying fervently for God’s purposes in the world. In today’s post we’ll consider Core Value number 3, Making God known by spreading the gospel locally and globally. 

Core Value #3: Making God known by spreading the gospel locally and globally 

When we talk about knowing God we are talking about relational knowledge. As we grow in our intimate understanding of and relationship with the God of the universe, we can’t help but be struck with awe and praise for what he’s done for us in his Son Jesus. The climax of Scripture and the heart of what it means to know God is the gospel, the profoundly good news that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead, conquering sin and death.

And as we grow in our knowledge of this gospel truth, we can’t help but pass along that good news to others around us and throughout the world. Core Value #3 is intentionally linked to Core Value #1.

The wording—that we value “spreading the gospel”—is also intentionally broad, in order to communicate a value for gospel ministry that includes both proclamation and action. Spreading the good news of Jesus means we tell people, using words, about him. And it also means we love people with Christ’s love, seeking to live in a way that displays mercy, kindness, and justice in a manner worthy of the gospel. We strive to speak and act, in our local community and throughout the world, with explicit reference to the broad story of redemption that spans Scripture and culminates in the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

This core value is based on some of Jesus’ final words to his disciples before he ascended to heaven. In Matthew 28:18–20, the final verses of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says this to his disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This charge to the disciples extends to the Church around the world, and to us at Gresham Bible Church in particular. We are commissioned with the task of multiplying God’s kingdom and making disciples of Jesus. At GBC there are many ways we try to implement this value. Here are a few of them.

• Local Outreach—Serving Dexter McCarty and its students, teachers, and administrators; Engaging in various work projects in the community; Supporting the YoungLives ministry.

• Global Outreach—Supporting missionaries in Slovenia, Basque country, and Mexico.

• Church Planting—Membership in the Waterhouse church planting network; Regularly supporting Hub City Church plant in Albany, Oregon.

This task of making disciples and spreading the gospel is not only done through these “official” ministries, and it’s not only up to pastors, staff members, elders, deacons, and ministry leaders to fulfill the great commission. We are all called to make disciples, and there are many ways that each of you can get involved in the work of making God known by spreading the gospel locally and globally.

Here are some ideas:

• Give to support missions and local outreach endeavors, like YoungLives.

• For some of you, go overseas. This could be either a short-term trip like the Bolts, or it might mean going to another country long-term.

• Be a part of Local Outreach efforts. Giving of our time to serve those in our community can provide significant opportunities to demonstrate and speak of Christ’s love.

• Reach out to your own neighbors. Develop relationships with them so you can point them to Jesus.

• Make God known in the workplace, by working hard at your job as unto the Lord, and by looking for opportunities to tell people about him.

First Thing First: Anyabwile, Tripp, and Strickland on the Priority of Abiding in Christ

Written by: Josh Mathews

There’s a theme that I've been thinking about and challenged with lately. It has to do with prioritizing communion with Christ. Life is busy, full of doing, thinking, and talking about all kinds of things, many of which are very good. But all these endeavors will be fruitless unless we are abiding in Christ.

Jesus says, 

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (John 15:4).

Here are some thoughts from three wise men on this theme:

Thabiti Anyabwile

In a post on The Gospel Coalition website, Thabiti Anyabwile offers several suggestions for how to apply the gospel “in actionable ways” in light of recent events in our country. 

His first point is to Stick Close to Jesus Personally. He quotes from the puritan Richard Sibbes’ book, The Bruised Reed, which says this: 

That age of the church which was most fertile in subtle questions was most barren in religion; for it makes people think religion to be only a matter of cleverness, in tying and untying of knots. The brains of men inclining that way are hotter usually than their hearts. 

Anyabwile goes on to say, 

We must recognize the danger of entrapment in “subtle questions,” whether they’re the subtle questions of theology or of sociology. Those dangers include—to paraphrase Sibbes—hot heads and cold hearts. A quick visit to most twitter feeds and Facebook pages will supply ample evidence that this heating of the crown and cooling of the chest is well underway among many Christians. 

We have it on the greatest Authority that, “Whoever abides in [Christ] and [Christ] in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Apart from Christ we can do nothing. We become unfruitful in spiritual knowledge and barren in our activism. Nothing could be more vital in Ferguson-like times than we sing and pray, “Jesus keep me near the cross.” To put it another way: We must first apply the gospel to our own lives by immersing ourselves in the truth of God’s word, warming ourselves with the Spirit’s fervency in prayer and keeping ourselves in the love of God. We begin here and never finish this delightful duty.

Paul Tripp

The elders have been reading Paul Tripp's book, Dangerous Calling. This book, and the quote below, is directed towards pastors, but the truth applies to all Christians. 

In chapter four Tripp highlights the importance of a pastor’s communion with Christ, over things like knowledge and skill. He tells a story of a pastor who seemed to have it all together in ministry but then crashed because he was missing the most important element. 

The problem was the pastor’s lack of a living, humble, needy, celebratory, worshipful, meditative communion with Christ. It was as if Jesus had left the building. There were all kinds of ministry knowledge and skill, but those seemed divorced from a living communion with a living and ever-present Christ.”

Just a little later, Tripp says that to be truly effective in ministry (and again, this doesn't just apply to pastors), 

The pastor must be enthralled by, in awe of—can I say it: in love with—his Redeemer so that everything he thinks, desires, chooses, decides, says, and does is propelled by love for Christ and the security of rest in the love of Christ. He must be regularly exposed, humbled, assured, and given rest by the grace of his Redeemer. His heart needs to be tenderized day after day by his communion with Christ so that he becomes a tender, loving, patient, forgiving, encouraging, and giving servant leader. His meditation on Christ—his presence, his promises, and his provisions—must not be overwhelmed by his meditation on how to make his ministry [or marriage, job, family, etc.] work.”

Rob Strickland

At last Saturday’s men’s breakfast we talked about ways we can strive to keep Christmas preparation and celebration centered around Jesus. We were thinking together about how, as men particularly, we can lead in this area. There were several wise and helpful comments. One thing that stood out was something Rob Strickland said. He gave this advice:

You can't give away or lead in an area that you don't have yourself. So make sure to spend time daily nourishing your spirit with the Lord, reflecting on his gifts to us and the awe inspiring story of his birth.

Rob’s challenge—which applies to all of us, men and women—was to make a priority of cultivating a heart of worship through regular communion with Christ. What we do and say and how we lead flows from our hearts. Abiding in Christ is the starting place for doing things that help keep the focus on Jesus, at Christmastime and beyond.

10/12/14 Sermon

Typically, each Monday we will be posting the previous Sunday's sermon. Here is the sermon from yesterday.

Sunday, October 12, 2014
Preaching: Eric Knox
Guest Speaker
Passage: Galatians 4:12–20

You can also access the sermon HERE.