The Joshua House
a missional community of worship following Jesus...

To me, heaven is getting the kids to bed early without the kind of drama that would put Grey’s Anatomy to shame, making a big plate of nachos and sitting down to watch one of my favourite 80’s movies on TV like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Say Anything, Lost Boys or The Breakfast Club (if you want to know more about my quirky movie taste feel free to see my favourite movies list on my facebook).  Whether it’s Cancun Mexico in the winter, a bite of our favourite chocholate bar, or scoring that game winning goal, I’m sure if we thought about it we’d all have different ideas of what heaven means to us, right?    But what of the bible?  What does it mean when it uses that term, and subsequently how are we as Christians to apply this understanding to our real lives here, now and today?

Often the way we talk about heaven in church can be like the way we talk about RSP’s (which by the way are due at the end of this month).  Most of us have them, believe in them, and even put our hard earned money into them but ask someone to explain how this will save us money on our tax returns and you will likely get back a blank stare and the word, “uhhhh” being uttered.

I wanted to share with all of you a recent interesting article in Time magazine entitled “Christians Wrong About Heaven, says Bishop.”  It is an interview with a well-respected Anglican bishop, pastor and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright who actually seems to dare talk about the specifics of what the bible means when it speaks of heaven.  I found it very helpful and I hope you do as well.  

By the way, in the near future I am considering on using some of his new DVD resources in our church.  He’s got a great DVD on the Resurrection as well as another on Evil, both of which I believe are very timely and essential topics to learn about today as Christians.

For the article just click here

I wanted to share a helpful interview with Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA.  He touches on the whole issue of clean vs. unclean in Christian/Church life today.  You’ll remember in our discussion on Sunday night on Acts 10 how I mentioned him in regards to this issue.  We certainly have a lot of unlearning and learning to do as God’s people today.

To view the 5 min. video just click here 

First let me say thanks to my fellow church planter Nick from Tapestry church in Calgary (part of our incarnational church network - The IIB Network) for passing this on.  It seems like we are both on a similar quest for the holy grail of figuring out how to be a missional church of Jesus followers in modern day Canadian suburbia.  Not as easy as you think!  The gospel both affirms and contradicts many values and lifestyles found in your average suburban community.  So where do we begin?

Here is a take on Ten Ways to be the People of God in Suburbia by Chris Smith.  Clearly not a comprehensive list but perhaps a decent place to start.

Following Jesus means recognizing him as Lord, Messiah, and Rabbi. As Lord, everything was made through Jesus and finds its ultimate purpose in him as the apex of God’s glory and grace. Jesus is God, "The One", the King, and in him is Life. As Messiah, he’s also the one who has come to put the world right again. He became one of us and through his life and by the cross defeated evil, sin and death once and for all. Finally, Jesus is our Rabbi as we become his student-apprentices and enroll ourselves into the Jesus school of life. With a joyful seriousness we immerse ourselves in the spiritual practices of Jesus such as silence, solitude, meditation, prayer, study, service, celebration, confession, etc. Moreover, as the "quintessential human" Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human as he calls us to walk with Him today as bringers of the Kingdom of God to all creation. This Kingdom primarily is not a place we go to when we die but rather the rule of God in our hearts today working its way out into eternity. It leads us to love a spouse well, raise children well, study well, face adversity well, manage businesses and finances well, form community life well, reach out to those on the margins well, share the message of Jesus well and die well.

Scriptures: Matthew 11:28-30; 23:10; 28:18-20; Luke 6:40; 9:23; John 10:10; 14:6; 17:3-4; 20:16, 28, 31; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21

TJH value number three: 

Worship is not just a song we sing or a service we attend but a life we live in response to the beauty of God.  It is "taking our everyday, ordinary life–our sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life–and placing it before God as an offering" (Eugene Peterson’s The Message).  It is a calling to jettison the all too common sacred/secular divide of our culture today for a view that sees all of life and all that we do as opportunities for the sacred to exist by attributing worth to the one who is worthy.  Whether we are riding a wave in the ocean, walking in the forest or feeling the sun on our face we thank God as the one who spoke creation into existence.  It is recognizing that God has uniquely crafted us as His workmanship with talents, skills and spiritual gifts that were meant to be used in service to others as expressions and reflections of the image of God in which we were all formed.  As Creator, God is the most creative, inspiring us to be His image bearers to our world through its stewardship and through the culture forming activities of our day such as music, film, art and media.

Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 37:4; Ecclesiastes 8:15; John 4:23; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:31

I know I’m a little late but here are the discussion questions for Acts 3:

1. What does it mean for you to know that God is now always spiritually present to those who follow Jesus?
2. When it comes to the miraculous, do you consider yourself more a skeptic or believer?  Why?  How should that change for you?  I.e. Maybe you are too cynical about the miraculous or maybe you believe things too easily.
3. What is mean by the statement: Jesus cares more about the inner miraculous than the outer?  Examples?  Look at Matthew 12:33-39 and Luke 11:27-29.
4. Like Peter, how can we learn to recognize the work of Jesus in people’s lives?  I.e. become a spiritual tour guide/assistant.
5. (v.38) Why does Peter answer the desperate crowd by telling them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus?  How would you describe these two ideas in your own words?
6. (v.39) Why does Peter make sure to add his comment in verse 39?  What’s significant about "all"?  Have you ever been a spiritual snob before?  How?
   
7. (v.42-47) What are the characteristics of a community of Jesus-followers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit?  (i.e. Learning…Life Together…Worship…Favour…)

Going through the bible book by book, chapter by chapter we often don’t have time to hear all the comments and questions we individually have as we approach the text.  However, we can use this space to continue the conversation amongst ourselves and anyone else interested by our posting of comments.  Moreover, I want to pass on the questions that I personally prepare each week for discussion in our group and personal study and reflection of the chapter.

Here are last Sundays for Acts 4:

1. (v.11) Why does Peter compare Jesus to the capstone (cornerstone) of a building project?  What exactly is Jesus the capstone of?  What does this mean for you?
2. (v.16-17) After witnessing such a miracle of God why do the Jewish leaders still try to cover it up?  How are we sometimes like the Jewish leaders today?  How do we sometimes try to cover up truth, even as Christians?
3. This portrait of the early church as an unselfish community is captivating and inspiring.  How do we, in our time, respond as they did in theirs?
• How do we speak boldly?
• How do we bring healing and miracles in God’s name?
• How do we join together with one heart and mind?
• How do we relinquish our possessions?

Interesting arctile here by Alex McManus of Mosaic in Los Angeles.  He shares a little about four turnings that need to happen in the human heart in order to create The Kinds of People the 21st Century Needs.

This time around he shares a little on the fourth one - a turning back to the world on mission.

Also, read the fourth comment down by Richie Merritt.  I found it quite interesting too. 

I’ve been meaning to post our community’s values for sometime now and finally got around to finishing them off.  In between our walking through the gospel of John and now our walk through the book of Acts, we had a chance to discuss in general what we mean by these core values that we hold to as a church.

Over the next few days I’ll be posting our four core values of which I alread did the first one a few weeks ago, missional journey.  Today I wanted to put the second one, authentic community.

Here’s what we believe and value about community: 

We live in a world where we find it necessary to define the kind of community we are seeking to cultivate as "authentic."  Authentic community is hard because it’s messy and strange because it’s full of people who are messy and strange…we all are.  The word "house" in our name signifies our hope to be more than an organization and more than just a gathering of individuals but rather a people from all backgrounds who choose to share life together in meaningful ways as followers of Jesus.  We see ourselves as family and friends, eating, laughing, working, playing, forgiving, serving and supporting one another in the midst of all the peaks and valleys of life.  "Joshua" is the Hebrew name for Jesus who we see as the head of our household and the one who gives us the mercy, grace and peace to be the people God has called us to be.  We see and hear Jesus guiding us to grow roots in our neighbourhoods and cultivate a community that would live in the midst of our city, seeking its well-being from the inside out.

Practically for us this means making interdependent community groups the heart of our church life.  These are safe, accepting environments where people can build authentic relationships, ask questions, laugh, learn, confess, share, serve and worship as we journey together as followers of Jesus.  Moreover, these groups seek to naturally enter into the lives of the neighbourhoods in which they meet through care, involvement and service as a starting point for a movement of grace and peace into all the world.

Scriptures: Genesis 2:18; Psalm 133:1; Matthew 28:19; Mark 3:34-35; John 13:34-35; 17:20-23; Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:9; Hebrews 10:24-25

Here’s Mike Goheen’s (Geneva Chair in Reformed Theology at Trinity Western University in Langley) answer in response to an interview with Alan Roxburgh:

Churches that are/have:

• Faithful and Relevant Worship – Faithful to the gospel and relevant

• Devoted to Communal Prayer – Learn how to pray together and in a way that engages the mission

• Deeply involved in the needs of the neighbourhood

• Trained to do evangelism in organic ways not methodological way – Not, “follow these four steps” but rather more natural ways of sharing the gospel

• Trained for their missionary encounter in various callings – How are people faithful in their work places, in the vocational ministries to which God has called them to on a daily basis
  

• Accountability in small groups but not in insular ways

• Committed to Mission(s) – establishing a witness where there is none (overall the church needs to make mission its horizon, a point of reference for where it is and where it is going

• Understands its cultural context – What are the idols in the community, bridges for the gospel, etc.

• Expresses the unity of the body of Christ – Missional church will want to be one with others who are also being missional

• Immersed in the biblical story – Not moralistic teaching but teaching from the story (narrative) of scripture

• Well trained leaders – take a lot of time helping leaders catch the missional vision

• Parents who are trained to take up the task of nurturing their children in the faith – Western culture is not a safe culture for family

Thoughts?  Where are we in these things?  How can The Joshua House get there?

If you want to listen to the interview for yourself click here for the link