C.J., Discernment, Giving Correction & The Emergent Church

As you will note at the top of my blog page here it says, "random musings & reflections," and the title of this blog entry might appear to be random, but there are many connections I want you to make with the above stated title. I wanted to direct you to a particular blog entry by C.J. Mahaney on these particular topics, and more than the content (of which is extremely valuable and I believe personally very necessary to address), I want you to see how C.J. communicates doctrinal discernment and the necessity of bringing correction to particular voices in our culture. Here in, is both a bold proclaimation of the truth of the gospel without wavering while a humble pursuit of the mortification of the sin of self-righteousness in his own heart accompanied with a loving desire for see those who walk in doctrinal error to come to the truth and be restored by it.

Again, I cannot say it enough, I am so very, very grateful to God for this man and his humble, bold, biblical discernment that he brings to pastors such as myself. His blog subtitle has the phrase, "from the cheapseats," well then, from mine it is from the "much cheaper seats" - out in the parking lot per say. Here are some specific connections I want you to see, (I am sure there are more, because I am not that discerning - but here is what my thick melon absorbed)...

1. The purposefulness of how C.J. leads. He is specific and very intentional. This speaks to me in how to lead, not only as a pastor, but as a husband and father in how I speak and spend my time with my family. That we are not just transfering information, but in how it is done communicates volumes and without being intentional this way - many opportunities are lost, or not used as well as they could be.

2. The need for doctrinal discernment and specifically how C.J. does this. He communicates clearly how such doctrinal error effects and breaks ranks with "gospel" preaching and doctrine.

3. He is humble in how he directs us to other men and their study and how God has used them. Many "bloggers" might spend much time pontificating ideas that came from other men's studies, but C.J. as a man who is in active pursuit of humility not only gives credit to whom credit is due, but introduces us to another friend, Mr. Greg Gilbert, (click here for his article on Rob Bell's Nooma material).

4. He is humble and gracious in his obversations of those who fall into doctrinal error, such as Rob Bell, while exhorting us to uphold this man lovingly in prayer that he might come to a place of truly embracing the gospel and supremacy.

5. He promotes a biblically healthy self-suspecion of our own motives while critiquing others. Look at this quote from his blog:

"Whenever it’s necessary to critique erroneous content, I find it helpful to
remind myself of the mercy of God. Any insight I have learned has been learned
from others, and ultimately, this discernment has been graciously revealed by
God. In no way does my critique indicate intellectual or moral superiority on my
part. We must critique erroneous content, but our critique must be humble and
not self-righteous.If we accurately perceive God’s mercy, this will become an
occasion of thanking God for his mercy in our lives rather than an opportunity
for self-righteous communication." -C.J. Mahaney

6. Note how he is specific in the training of pastors on how we are to think. While directing us in content on a particular error he is training us how to think about these things, not just what to think about it. This is equipping leadership.

7. His critque is informed by the gospel, thus it has not only the passion of protecting the gospel, but he reveals the hope that there is for us when we fall into error that only comes from the gospel.

From the much cheaper seats - read, enjoy, be informed, and may we be increasingly changed,

Matthew