Some thoughts about Easter

As a Pastor of a Church in Melbourne and someone who is a keen observer of culture and religion, I am dismayed by the way Easter has been hijacked. Hijacked, not by secularists, gamblers or local businesses wanting to open their doors for trading, but taken over by religious people.

It appears that Easter has been appropriated by people who, by their ostentatious participation in Easter ceremonies, have distorted the meaning of Easter. This may sound like a harsh assessment, and yet this is not dissimilar to the evaluation Jesus gave of his own generation.

Religious ceremonies are frequented for a variety of reasons: tradition - the family goes to church at Easter and Christmas because that’s what they’ve always done; and the religious delusion - if I go to Church at Easter I may fool God into thinking I am a good person. The problem with these views is that they do not reflect the meaning of Easter.

Easter is not for people who think they have God’s tick of approval, and can justify themselves by their prayers and rituals and moralist standing. On the contrary, the Easter event happened for the non-religious, for those who have fallen out of church, and who think God would never accept them.

Jesus says it very clearly, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Mark 2:17).The gruesome death of Jesus on the cross and his glorious resurrection from the dead is not a shrine to humanity’s righteousness, but the naked exposure of everything that is wrong in the world. Easter does not delight in the spiritual diversity and intensity of humanity, but speaks into our spiritual sickness. If, as the Bible claims, the Cross simultaneously reveals the judgement of God and the love of God, then Easter must surely strip us of any pride or pretentious religious activity.

John Newton, the once slave trader, famously wrote, ‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. T’was blind and now I see’. That is the Easter message.

Hear are some of Guy's thoughts from this morning - check them out

Melbourne Church Planting Crew – 14 quick reflections by Guy Mason

This morning about 40 young guys turned up for a casual breakfast in 
Carlton (Melbourne) to pray, eat, chat and talk about developments 
regarding a national church-planting network.

Here are some thoughts:

i.              Very encouraged to see so many people passionate about 
knowing Jesus and making Jesus known.

ii.            Very encouraged to see a range of people (i.e., 
different denominations, churches, settings etc.)

iii.          Very encouraged to hear people’s eagerness to see gospel 
renewal and transformation in Melbourne.

iv.           Very keen to go to next stage and spend time talking/
praying about core values, theology, open/closed hand issues.

v.             Very keen to introduce the Melbourne crew to Al 
Stewart, Steve Chong, Andrew Heard, Mikey Lynch.

vi.           Very keen to introduce the Melbourne crew to other key 
Melbourne leaders (e.g., Peter Adam, Andrew Reid, Stephen Hale, Mike 
Raiter, Richard Condie to name a few)

vii.         Very keen to spend the next month liaising with 
denominational leaders and hearing about their journey in church 
planting and how we can learn and serve each other.

viii.       Very keen to get in contact with others who have church 
planting experience, are active in church planting and considering 
church planting down the track.

ix.           Very keen to establish regular gatherings in Melbourne 
(monthly/bi-monthly) where we can talk and pray at greater length 
about all things church planting.

x.             Very keen to identify ways we can gather and support 
church planter wives.

xi.           Very keen to explore ways we can serve the many people 
in Melbourne who are keen to plant churches.

xii.         Very humbled by the task ahead.

xiii.       Very excited to consider what God might do in our city.

xiv.        Very excited to announce that Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill 
Church / Acts 29) will be coming to Melbourne towards the end of the 
year for one night to help us keep Jesus and mission on the radar.



Would love your prayers!  To find out more email guymason@docklandschurch.org.au



Guy Mason (Pastor – Docklands Church)

wedding anniversary

Susan and I have been married 10 years today. I am soooo thankful to God for Susan and her love and patience and kindness.

And I am soooo looking forward to a night out with her tonight. please kids, be good for your grandparents.

Matt Chandler

Matt Chandler (a 34 yr old Reformed Baptist Texas slightly Charismatic Preacher) will be in Sydney in August for a series of preaching engagements. He is one of the finest preachers around and I'm trying to get him down in Melbourne for 1 day to do a gig for Xpose Preaching.

If you'd like him to escape Sydney for a day let me know so I can 'encourage' (with a meat cleaver) our Sydney brothers to lend him out

transforming Melbourne with the Gospel

First things first - I now believe it was a mistake to predict Richmond finishing 8th this season. And to the 'Blues' - congrats. On ya mates.

Now to matters second. I've just had breakfast with almost 40 guys at a cafe in Carlton who came together to talk about church planting in Melbourne. Thanks Guy for organising it.

I am encouraged that there were so many present, and I didn't know 2/3 of them. How great it is that God has his people around Melbourne and how he is urging young men to consider church planting.

The conversation is only beginning. There is much to discuss, but it's a start.

Some observations from the morning:
1) We're becoming very Driscoll clichéd .
2) Young men serious about the Gospel and the lost.
3) lots of enthusiasm but there is need for serious theological reflection and discussion.
4) Will the denominations leap with joy or try to stifle this passion?
5) Glad Shebu raised the subject of humility. We must not think that we are the only ones with Gospel mindedness and that previous generations have not worked faithfully. We are but building on the shoulders of godly men who have served before us.
6)Humbled by the resources Acts29 want to give us.
7) Very keen to hear what Al Stewart, Andrew Heard and Mikey Lynch are thinking. We need their wisdom as we consider a Australian Church Planting Network.
8) I want to gain the wisdom from Peter Adam, Andrew Reid, Mike Raiter and other Christians leaders in Melbourne
8) So we have to come up with a name for this 'movement'.
9) I don't think we can call ourselves a movement yet.
10) How will my Church want to get involved? Will need to talk with them and hear from them.
11) As I shared with the core group who are planting our new congregation - Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2).
12) I don't want to waste the life God has given me

For the most important post of the year

Who is going to win the footy tonight?

Carlton vs Richmond. It's a sell out at the MCG. I'll be watching it from home. What a great way to kick off season 2009. I'm predicting a win for the Blues. 10 goal win would be super.

My predictions for the top 8 in 2009:
Geelong
Hawthorn
Bulldogs
Carlton
Collingwood
Freemantle
St Kilda
Richmond

the harvest of theological liberalism

The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour.

(Hosea 8:7b)

I tire of the theological crap being spun in my city. I would use stronger words by more social sensibilities hold me back. The rubbish I hear regularly from the mouths of Christian leaders in Melbourne frustrates and angers me from time to time. It is not wise. It is not saving anyone. It is not producing holiness. It is a field of headless stalks of grain blowing in the wind - useless to everyone. Yet, our Churches and theological colleges (yes there are numerous exceptions) keep on planting this crap. What is the result? Churches are shrinking. Churches waste money funding organisations and people who don't believe the Gospel, who reject PSA and the resurrection and the Bible's inspiration, etc. 'Christians' are endorsing ways of living that the Bible says are sinful. 'Christians' are preaching a message to the city that everyone is pretty much a ok with God.


I have no doubt this post will anger some folk. But hey, why should the pretense that liberalism is ok win the day.

Only the grace of God in the power of the Gospel can save us from ourselves.

Please God have mercy on us. Save us from our folly. Please God turn your people back to Gospel fidelity. Please shut the mouths of the false teachers. Please God raise Shepherds who will love and protect the sheep.

Music mania

First things first, my background is in music. I spent the first 21 years of my life studying the piano. I have a degree in music from university. I have won piano competitions, people were once crazy enough to pay to listen my playing. I don't play anymore, but I am listening to music all the time (even in my sleep there is music playing in my head). My point is - I love music - no one needs to convince me of the value of music.

As we plan the new congregation at Mentone one of the things we need to figure out is the music. What will it sound like? Where will the musicians comes from? What style of music will they play?

here's a few random thoughts:
1) the two previous churches I've been part of had poor quality music. Yet they were both thriving churches. One had 200 people (with dozens of young people), the other was a congregation of over 400. A healthy and growing church does not have to have great music. So long as the Gospel is being preached and people love one another things are good.
2) I want great music at Mentone. Jason and team have worked hard to improve the quality of music in morning church. It's getting there. It has a long way to go as well. Thanks Jase. Why do I want great music 1) I like it, 2) teenagers and young adults are attracted by funky music.
3) The band won't make people Christians, but it may help attract people.
4) Before the music can attract anyone they have to visit, so how will it attract?
5) The early church survived without a band so I guess we can
6) If God gives us the resources why not make the music as cool as possible? The quality of musicianship makes music neither more and less God glorifying (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16).
7) When choosing the genre of music it ought to reflect the culture we're reaching, as much as is possible. Right now I'm listening to Bach Cantatas, but I know that won't go down well in this part of Melbourne. What are people listening to on their i-pods and radios? God help me if it's pop music - there is a limit to my contextualising grace.

I'm interested to hear what people think. I'm interested to hear from musos around Melbourne who'd love to join a Jesus believing, Bible preaching Church

New John Dickson doco for tv

It's exciting to hear that this Easter John Dickson and company are back with a new documentary on the life of Jesus. I've just watched the preview - as with the 'Christ Files' it's a professional production, sounds informative. What a great program to show on Good Friday.

The only down side is Channel 7 Melbourne won't be showing it during the day as it would interfere with the sacred children's hospital appeal. I'm guessing it will make it's appearing at midnight on Good Friday as it did last year.


Here's a link to the preview - the life of Jesus

I'm going to buy the DVD from youthworks and show it at church sometime. Will let everyone know.

New website for Mentone

Sam is the man.

He's designed a new site for Mentone Baptist Church. There's a few things to iron out and we'll soon get all the sermons uploaded, including the current Proverbs series.

thanks heaps Sam for the efforts. Much appreciated

wwww.mentonebaptist.com.au

Whoever said preaching is boring must be dead

Preached about sex last Sunday (from Proverbs 5). Wow, it has created conversations like few sermons I've given have. Afterward I had people asking for help, people grateful that sex is being spoken of as a beautiful gift rather than a sin. Growth groups are looking at the topic in more detail this week. Hoping that leads to more repentance and more joy and more God glorifying marriages.

who said Calvin was old school?

calvinism4today

Christianity and Sex

I'm preaching on Proverbs 5 this Sunday, a passage that has a lot to say about sex.

Why is it that we Christians are so nervous to talk about sex? When we rattle off a list of sins we hide sex somewhere in the middle, just to make sure we said it, but not really wanting anyone to hear it.

I wonder, has keeping sex out of the pulpit helped a whole generation of Christians or just made them feel guilty about it?

I'm glad to hear that some preachers are throwing out this useless Christian cultural baggage and teaching straight about sex from the Bible. I'm joining their ranks.

An Aussie Acts29 Network

It seems increasingly likely that an independent church planting network, partnering with Acts29 (Mark Driscoll and mob) -

Hear are some initial reflections and questions (without answers):

- very excited - love what Driscoll and Acts29 are on about (missiologically and theologically)
- Question - how will Acts29 help church planting in Melbourne? What difference will it make?
- What strucutres are required to kick start Acts29 in Australia?
- What do we name it?
- Where will the finances come from and will that money take away from otherwise church planting?
- the theological grid will be Reformed (Amen!), but how will issues such as male eldership go down in Melbourne? When we have evangelicals who are complementarian and egalitarian, will a closed hand approach to eldership further divide otherwise Jesus loving, Gospel minded Churches? When there are attempts to unite Evangelicals, do we want to further splinter them with an important, but not Gospel central issue? (i speak as a convinced complementarian)
- If Acts29 comes to Australia Melbourne doesn't want Sydney to control it. This is not a pride thing, but a cultural one. Sydney initiatives rarely work well in Melbourne (whether it's Christian or political or sport or fashion, you name it we don't like them).
- to contradict myself, I have a few theological differences with Driscoll, i.e. some stuff I hear about the Holy Spirit. But none of these are Gospel issues.
- Even before anything formal happens, the conversation is getting young Christian men in Melbourne together, talking hard, thinking hard about preaching Christ to Melbourne - that's exciting
-I'll keep praying

thinking in the shower ... is Christian sin a valid argument against Christianity

The shower is a great source of random thoughts. Tonight I thought about public Christian sins - priests abusing children, the crusades, and so on. Is the fact that Christians sin and sometimes in ignominious ways, an argument to disprove Christianity?

3 points of response:

1) not every act done in the name of Jesus is enacted by a Christian. The world is full religious fruit cakes, including 'Christian' fruit cakes.

Having said that, Christians do stuff up in big ways sometimes. While we can repudiate all sin we can't say that eveytime a Christian does something terrible they are not Christian.

Remember, we can find examples in every religion of people doing horrific things. This is not exclusive of religions, but all belief systems. Atheists have been complicit in many of the grossest acts of inhumanity over the last 100 years. So if Christianity is fake because Christians sin, so too is every other belief system ever invented.

2) Whilst Christians sin, it can be argued that Christian beliefs do lead to a better way of living, a more godly life - more stable home life, more likely to do volunteer work and giving money to charity. The positive nature of Christian belief has had massive impact of the history of the world - from abolishing slavery in the UK, to education children and women, to protecting workers in Victorian England, to establishing hospitals, universities, music, science - the list is staggering. Christianity does not lead to a lesser society, but a better one, greater equality, greater care, greater pursuit of knowledge...

3) That fact that Christians sin is not an argument against Christianity, it is one of the greatest arguments for it. As a Christian I acknowledge I sin and I need a Savior, someone to save me from my sin and from God's righteous anger at my sin. Christians are not pious head-in-the-cloud nose jobs; we are the first to admit how bad we are and how stuffed we are. And so we turn to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.

what do you think?

to plant a new congregation

I've been reading, thinking, praying, planning Mentone's new congregation. On monday night I met up with a small team to begin putting plans in place, and I met up with another young guy from church this morning.

As I've been reading through Scripture I paused and spent some time looking at Paul's church plant in Corinth (Acts 18).

Here are some helpful church planting points I took from this:

1 Partnering with other believers. When Paul arrived in Corinth he found the only 2 believers there and partnered with them - Aquila and Priscilla.
2. To support the plant Paul had to work, and so did his newly found mates. Need financial backing
3. Getting the Gospel into public places. Paul 'reasoned' every Sabbath in the synagogue. You can't plant a church without proclaiming the Gospel. The manner Paul chose was to reason - a word that frequently used to describe preaching in Acts. Honest, persuasive speech about Jesus as Lord and Savior.
4. Sifting out those who want to hear and those who don't. Paul went through a process of working out those who stood against the Gospel and those who wanted to hear and learn.
5. Discipleship. As people turned to Christ Paul discipled them through teaching the word of God. WE're not in the business of making converts, but disciples of Jesus - and that is a life long process. Jesus said the same - Matthew 28.
6. There are many parallels between Corinth and Melbourne. Both are great cities, cosmopolitan, intellectual, highly paganised, centres of trade, etc.

The Church plant in Corinth has given us some good food for thought

baptisms at parkdale beach - march 1st 2009