JTTurner.Net

It’s been a while, and I apologize for the lack of updates. The biggest reason is that my wife and I only recently had internet hooked up in our home. While I have been idle in my blogging some things have popped up, disturbing things, that have caused me to pause and consider what the mission of Jesus entails. While the answer to that question contains a many-layered answer, one thing for sure, and perhaps not expressed often enough, is “biblical literacy.” What is biblical literacy? Well, it’s not merely being able to read the Bible. But rather, as Gordon Fee puts it, being able to read the Bible “for all it’s worth.” This is a missional concept, a very important one in fact. What this implies is that as disciples of Christ, who are hoping to make more disciples, we must be incredibly familiar with all aspects of Scripture. Historical milieu, crucial points of doctrine, context, context, and oh yes…context! We’re not to be “proof texters” by throwing out one-liners to people but rather we must have a grasp on as much Scripture as possible. Am I implying that we can exhaust scripture and plumb all of its depths? Heck no. But what I am implying is this: God does not reward lazy study and does not magically give the unlearned every ounce of insight just by looking at the pages. God, of course, does provide insight; the internal instigation and witness of the Holy Spirit will guide people into truth but this is not some random occurrence…this is a direct result of HARD WORK.

To be able to disciple implies we must BE a disciple. And the most obvious way to start that is by trying to learn everything God has to say through His written revelation. I am definitely a believer in sola scriptura. Being able to reason through the scriptures is not only evidenced and praised in Scripture (Acts 17) but it is also commanded that we hold fast to true doctrine (just check out Paul’s letters to Timothy). Being able to properly teach and disciple is what being missional is all about. We don’t want to have baby-believers running around conforming to every new hip, wind of doctrine and forgetting that they are to be tethered firmly to our source of truth, Scripture. That is just about as off mission as someone can possibly get.

I am a huge proponent of apologetics, it’s a passion of mine. While I have begun to understand that apologetics is not the end-all-be-all of discipleship it does contain one great component which is not foresakeable for any believer; we are commanded to know what we believe and why we believe it (1 Peter 3:15). We are commanded to be familiar with it so that nothing sways us from the true mission of Christ. Our focus isn’t to be on “healing revivals” or knocking someone down with “Holy Ghost power;” no, our mission is to bring fellow believers into an understanding that we are to take the message of reconciliation to as many people as we possibly can (II Cor. 5). And our mission to unbelievers is to tell them that they need to repent of their former life and follow Christ….and then show them how! We cannot do this if we do not know what we believe. We cannot do this if we do not understand Scripture in its literary and historical context. We cannot do this if we buy into every feel-good phenomena that uses the name of Jesus. We cannot do this if we try and blow them away with wild “supernatural” shenanigans. We can only do this if we wake up every day and understand that the mission God has given me (don’t confuse me with saying the mission will fail because God doesn’t need me for that) will fail if I do not understand what God is teaching through His word.

Oh yes…and all of this must be done within the context of relationships. Relationships that are formed on the basis of being able to teach someone the great truths of the Gospel so that a given person repents of their former life and turns to walk with Christ on His mission.

-JT