Here are some photos from his visit:

SCHEDULE

• 5:00-6:00 pm - Dinner in the camp cafeteria
• 6:00-7:30 pm - Dr. Zack Eswine talk (Children dismiss to nursery and playtime)

FOOD

• Every household bring one main dish and one side
• Students bring either a bag of chips or bread item
• Vine Church will provide ice cream sundaes for dessert 

LOCATION

• Lake Waubesa Bible Camp
• 2851 Crescent Drive, McFarland, Wisconsin

If you have any questions please contact me at: ssterner@thevinemadison.org

One discussion that often comes up is: do I need to regularly attend a local church? Another subset of this question is: do I need to become a church member?

Often times we are told there was no portrait of church membership in Scripture. I will admit some churches today may practice membership as a form of self righteousness justifying their own self worth as a church by how many numbers they can pad into their roles. Yet I would maintain church membership is important and 100% faithful with Biblical practices--when it is not abused. Membership is basically mutually acknowledged commitment in a local body and agreement with the local elders/under-shepherds that you are under them and that they will watch over your soul according to the Biblical proscription.

Read more.

Yesterday marked the start of the Vine church membership class.  If you missed out on the first session, it is not too late to join in for the remaining two:

• April 22nd - 3-5pm - The Hobert Home (5812 Monticello Way Fitchburg)
• April 29th - 3-5pm - The Sterner Home  (4609 Bautista Drive, McFarland)

Contact Pastor Scott (ssterner@thevinemadison.org) if you would like to learn more about taking the class.

Tomorrow, a great number of Christians around the world remember and reflect on the brutal death of Jesus through the holiday of Good Friday.  Why do English-speaking Christians call this day "good" when clearly the events that took place are immensely sorrowful and gloomy?

Justin Holcomb, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, summarizes why Good Friday is "so dark and so good":

Still, why call the day of Jesus’ death “Good Friday” instead of “Bad Friday” or something similar? Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.” In English, in fact, the origin of the term “Good” is debated: some believe it developed from an older name, “God’s Friday.” Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins…

Read more.

The Vine will be marking the occasion of Good Friday with a service tomorrow at 7:30pm at Lapham Elementary School.

Tim Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian church in New York City, in his book, The Prodigal God, has some very thought-provoking words about religion vs. gospel and the types of people we attract or offend as a church:

To most people in our society, Christianity is religion and moralism. The only alternative to it (besides some other world religion) is pluralistic secularism. But from the beginning it was not so. Christianity was recognized as a tertium quid, something else entirely.

The crucial point here is that, in general, religiously observant people were offended by Jesus, but those estranged from religious and moral observance were intrigued and attracted to him. We see this throughout the New Testament accounts of Jesus’s life. In every case where Jesus meets a religious person and a sexual outcast (as in Luke 7) or a religious person and a racial outcast (as in John 3-4) or a religious person and a political outcast (as in Luke 19), the outcast is the one who connects with Jesus and the elder-brother type does not. Jesus says to the respectable religious leaders ‘the tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you’ (Matthew 21:31).

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.

If you are wondering what church membership is and whether it is important for you to join a church in membership, John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, has a brief video answering those types of questions:

The three classes are:

• April 15th - 3-5pm - The Nielsen Home (10 Merlham Drive, Madison)
• April 22nd - 3-5pm - The Hobert Home (5812 Monticello Way Fitchburg)
• April 29th - 3-5pm - The Sterner Home  (4609 Bautista Drive, McFarland)

After completing the membership classes, you will have the opportunity to meet with a pastor for a membership interview to finalize the process.  

Zack Eswine is Senior Pastor of Riverside Church in Saint Louis, Missouri. Dr. Eswine has served in pastoral roles for eighteen years and spent six years as Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Director for Ministry at Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Eswine’s most recent book, Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Biblical Sermons that Connect with our Culture, won Preaching Today’s Book of the Year Award in 2009. He is also the author of the book, Kindled Fire: How the Methods of C.H. Spurgeon Can Help Your Preaching. His forthcoming books are, Preaching Barefoot: Life and Ministry as a Human Being and Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Handling the Darker Sides of the Life and Ministry. 

On Saturday there will be a leadership workshop for church pastors and leaders and Saturday evening, a potluck for attenders and friends of The Vine Church. Dr. Eswine will then wrap up the weekend joining us as preacher for the Vine's Sunday morning service. Read below for more detailed information. 

LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP

• Preaching for Application to a Post-Everything World
• Saturday, April 21 from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
• Damascus Road Church 4642 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, Wisconsin
• $6 per person to cover lunch expense

VINE CHURCH POTLUCK

• Suffering in the Christian Life
• Saturday, April 21 from 5:00-7:30 pm 
• Lake Waubesa Bible Camp 
• 2851 Crescent Drive, McFarland, Wisconsin

VINE CHURCH SERVICE

• Sunday, April 22 from 10:00-11:30 am
• Lapham Elementary School 
• 1045 East Dayton Street, Madison, Wisconsin

Shortly before college I read Mortimer Adler's little classic How to Read a Book.  That may sound like an odd title.  After all, how could somebody read the book unless they already knew how to read?  And if they did know how to read, then why would they need to read it at all?

How to Read a Book turned out to be one of the most important books I have ever read.  Adler quickly convinced me that I didn't know how to read a book after all—not really.  I didn't know how to ask the right questions while I was reading, how to analyze the book's major arguments, or how to mark up my copy for later use.  

I suspect that most people don't how to listen to a sermon, either.

He makes some great points about how to actively hear God's word in the Sunday sermon:

• Prepare ahead of time (pray, rest, read the passage)
• Keep a writing utensil in hand, even if you don't use it all the time
• Open your Bible and compare what your pastor is saying with what the passage says
• Develop an "itch" to do what the passage tells you to do

Read more

Community is important because it is a primary attribute of God who is perfect community in the Father, Son, and Spirit who seeks to commune with his creation despite our rejection of him through sin.

Often we see faithful pursuit of community at odds with faithful pursuit of mission, spreading the gospel to unreached co-workers, neighbors and friends.  Lean too heavily on one calling and the other suffers.

Seth McBee, a pastor at Soma Community in Renton, Washington, shares why community and mission are intertwined and that real community thrives with multiplication of disciples and vice versa:

Most small groups in churches believe their goal is to get to know each other or form a close bond. If this is the goal, multiplication will never be desired. Drawing close to one another is not the goal of missional community, but making disciples who make disciples is (being fruitful and multiplying images of Jesus). Drawing close to one another happens because Jesus has given us the same Father, and we are a part of the same family. So, forming a close bond is a bi-product rather than the goal of living together on mission as family.

Read more.

Ray Ortlund, pastor at Immanuel Church in Nashville, has some great words on the allure of sucess and how it gets in the way of our more fulfilling pursuit of Jesus:

In a world of secrets, outward success is everyone’s goal.  If we can just succeed, we won’t have to face ourselves.  No wonder that doesn’t work.  It can’t work.  The reality of what we are will always topple this house-of-cards persona we so earnestly wish were true.

The gospel is not God’s way of giving us an even better self-improvement goal.  The gospel is God’s judgment on our better selves and his replacement of it all with Jesus.
Every one of us thinks, “If only I could do __________ or be __________, then I would arrive.”  So, what does “arrival” look like to you?  If it isn’t Jesus, the risen Lord himself, every arrival you achieve is only another set-back.

Read more.

1. I study to see and savor the supreme value of Jesus above all earthly things.
2. I pray that this would free me from the love of money.
3. I trust in God’s promises for every need to be met (for my family and the church)
4. I set aside electronically our regular gift to the church, and then add spontaneous gifts in the worship services.
5. Finally, I put protections in place against bigger barns and I turn the prosperity of my fields into blessings for others.

Read the rest to see his helpful explanations.

Madison is home to the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin, with more than 42,000 students and many thousands of researchers.  In 2008, more research dollars were spent at UW-Madison than any college in the country except Johns Hopkins University, and recently the annual research expenditures have topped $1 billion, with top-ranked stem cell research viewed as the jewel in the crown of the university.

Science is certainly an important sphere within Madison, and there are many thousands of scientists and students aspiring to be scientists who live here.  How can we as a church engage with people in science?

Phil Reinders, a pastor at Knox Presbyterian Church in Toronto, has some encouraging words on being friendly towards those in science fields:

The perceived conflict between faith and science is so commonplace that it’s a given in popular culture. Caught up in this false choice, churches are sometimes inhospitable places for people trained in the sciences.

So how can congregations create a welcoming space where people celebrate God’s scientific truth, and where all those involved in the sciences (including engineers, teachers, lab technicians, researchers, health care professionals and others) can grow as disciples and embrace their work as a holy vocation?

Although some might think of a hospitable attitude toward science and faith as an option package, it is an essential facet of the church’s witness. It is vital to the spiritual formation of those who are engaged in the sciences. It is critical for a compelling Christian witness in a culture where the dogma of the scientific worldview mostly goes unchallenged. And it is integral to developing a robust faith centered on the God who reveals His glory within the created world.

Becoming a science-friendly church is not so far out of reach - it doesn’t require a conference or a shiny new program. Most congregations and pastors can draw on Christ-centered practices and postures cultivated over centuries, mindfully extending them toward the sciences. Following are a few of those practices and postures that might be helpful.

Read more…

We know that discipleship is something that's important, something we probably should be doing, but how do we go about doing it?

Trevin Wax at the Gospel Coalition blog has some great insights into discipleship.  He sees that churches typically fall into two camps on opposite sides of the pendulum swing that imperfectly pursue discipleship. Camp 1 forgoes thoughtful discussion about the Bible and simply tells people in detail how to live. Camp 2 faithfully communicates doctrine, but is not very helpful when the rubber of application hits the road of life.

Jesus' example of discipleship included years of living and traveling with his followers and friends.  There was definite doctrinal instruction, but also a clear example of doing life together.  While a weekly meeting at the coffee house is a good starting point for discipleship, we are being called to something deeper.

Pastor, theologian, and philosopher Francis Schaeffer left a deep impression on Christianity in the 20th century.  In particular, he is a meaningful example of how to engage and interact with people of different belief systems.

In his writing about the role the Christian plays in today's world, Schaeffer offered four things that society wants and needs from Christians:

Two contents

1. Sound doctrine
2. Honest answers to honest questions

Two realities

1. True spirituality
2. The beauty of human relationship

Read more about these contents and realities at the Gospel Coalition blog.

Tim Chester, pastor at The Crowded House Church in Sheffield, England, has some great thoughts on how our core values as a church (gospel, community, mission) intersect with everyday life, as we gather around the dining table:

Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals. If you routinely share meals and you have a passion for Jesus, then you’ll be doing mission.

On the idea of gospel-centered mission in ordinary life:

Meals bring mission into the ordinary. But that’s where most people are—living in the ordinary. That’s where we need to go to reach them. We too readily think of mission as extraordinary. Perhaps that’s because we find it awkward to talk about Jesus out-side a church gathering. Perhaps it’s because we think God moves through the spectacular rather than the witness of people like us. Perhaps it’s because we want to outsource mission to the professionals, so we invite people to guest services where an “expert” can do mission for us. But most people live in the ordinary, and most people will be reached by ordinary people. Even those who attend a special event will, for the most part, have first been befriended by a Christian. “For those looking to connect with people in the local community it isn’t that hard if you really want to. Just invite people round, let them know they can go home if they need to and then enjoy a meal together. You’re going to eat anyway, so why not do it with others!”

On combining community with other believers and mission to those outside the church:

People often complain that they lack time for mission. But we all have to eat. Three meals a day, seven days a week. That’s twenty-one opportunities for mission and community without adding anything to your schedule. You could meet up with another Christian for breakfast on the way to work—read the Bible together, offer accountability, pray for one another. You could meet up with colleagues at lunchtime. Put down this book and chat to the person across the table from you in the cafeteria. You could invite your neighbors over for a meal. Better still, invite them over with another family from church. That way you get to do mission and community at the same time; plus your unbelieving neighbors will get to see the way the gospel impacts our relationships as Christians (John 13:34–35; 17:20–21). You could invite someone who lives alone to share your family meal and follow it with board games, giving your children an opportunity to serve others through their welcome.

When I find myself heading for burnout, more often than not I've lost the rhythms of rest and repentance and start to chase my idols. I take my sights off of Christ and become self-focused---simply put, I try to take God's place on the throne.

Rest and repentance are both hallmarks of a Gospel-centered life. A good reminder for all of us.

Along that same line of thinking, Tim Gaydos, pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, shares 11 gospel-centered ways to love your city:

1. Reach out to “the least of these” in your city.

Who are the downtrodden, forgotten, or underserved people in your city? Start a mercy ministry to reach out to these groups. Create a transition plan for homeless people from shelters into community. Jesus tells us that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for him.

2. Get involved civically.

Set up a meeting with your mayor or city council members and find out specifically what your city needs. Then rally your church or Community Group to help meet those needs. Start attending your neighborhood association meetings and volunteering your time to make your city better.

3. Throw parties and invite your neighbors.

This could be anything from a get-together in your apartment to a full-scale neighborhood block party. The transient nature of many cities can lead to neighbors barely knowing one another. Sometimes all it takes is to initiate by invitation!

Read more.

Our pastor Zach Nielsen, on his blog Take Your Vitamin Z, shares a meaningful quote from Tim Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, on how the gospel transcends political alignments and the power struggle but how Christians are nontheless compelled by the gospel to be radical players in how society addresses its problems:

Secular people have a strong belief that religion is really just about social power. There is a need to place every church somewhere on the ideological spectrum, from liberal left-wing to conservative right wing. But the gospel makes the true church impossible to categorize. Justification by faith brings deep, powerful psychological changes: 'Though I am sinful, I am accepted based on the good of Another.' This truth converts people.

On the other hand, the gospel of the Cross and Kingdom brings deep, powerful social changes. It defies the values of the world: power, status, recognition and wealth. The gospel is triumph through weakness, wealth through poverty, power through service. This changes our attitude toward the poor and toward our own status, wealth and careers. A gospel-centered church should combine zeals that are ordinarily never seen together in the same church. This is one of the main ways we make people look twice and take our message seriously.

The Vine Church exists to glorify God by living out his mission as a community transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In thinking about the concept of mission, Jesus and Paul are among our greatest examples in the intentional lifestyles they led.  R. Kent and Carey Hughes have some insightful meditations on mission and the implications for how we live our lives: 

Jesus didn’t just let his relational circles happen. Not only did he give careful thought to the selection of those in his inner circle (the disciples), but he also strategically pursued relationships with unbelievers by entering into their social situations and hanging out with them. He sought out the “spiritually sick” (sinners and tax collectors) so as to bring them the good news. Jesus was constantly on the move to escape the crowds that only wanted their bellies filled or bodies fixed, so that he could proclaim the gospel to those with ears to hear. The apostle Paul did the same. His travels from city to city and frequent visits to synagogues and town halls were not about tourism; rather they were for the very purpose of creating relational opportunities to proclaim the gospel to more unbelievers!

Of course, most of us are not called to be traveling evangelists. But we all should be evangelistically intentional about the social and relational circles we run in. For some of you this needs to start by just seeking to get to know some unbelievers. I often hear from young guys in my church, especially those who attend Christian schools, that they actually don’t know any non-Christians, and they say this without any embarrassment. This is totally unacceptable! It’s our job to know and pursue non-Christians. The fact that they don’t naturally run in your social circles is no excuse. We must pursue non-Christians and be intentional about the relationships we already have with them.

The three core values of the Vine Church are gospel, community, and mission.  Discipleship—following Jesus' example and adhering to him—involves living out all three.  

Jonathan Parnell has a great excerpt on discipleship from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who deeply followed Christ in the midst of Nazi Germany, even to the point of death: 

Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship.

An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous, and in fact they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatever, and are essentially inimical [or hostile] to the whole conception of following Christ.

With an abstract idea it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge, to become enthusiastic about it, and perhaps even to put it into practice; but it can never be followed in personal obedience.

Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

 

Continuing the same theme of racial reconciliation that Zach Nielsen explored in his sermon this week, what is it like to be a part of a church in a multi-ethnic neighborhood?  The above clip shows a glimpse of a new church plant in Seattle's Rainier Valley, one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the country, but also a neighborhood stricken with poverty, crime, and other social problems.

Deacon Danny Chi remarks about the church's diversity:

We’re not here to be diversified just to be diversified. That’s what the world wants. But the difference between the world and us is that we want to be multi-ethnic and multi-cultural because Jesus has a heart for that.

Indeed, there is a great temptation within us to keep our churches "safe", which often leads intentionally or unintentionally to monoculture.  Much like the ancient city of Babel, we can fail by creating an atmosphere of exclusion beyond our four walls, erecting within our hearts a tower to the testament of our own superiority.

Jesus' heart for the church is the exact opposite—welcoming in "aliens and strangers" and "breaking down the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2)—so that all peoples of all colors and tongues might be welcomed in to celebrate God come down to be with his people.

Kim Riddlebarger, pastor at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, explores in more detail the deeper implications of what it means to be an "image-bearer" of God:

Because all men and women are divine image-bearers we are truly like God, and we possess all of the so-called communicable attributes of God–albeit in creaturely form and measure. This is what constitutes us as “human” beings, distinct from and superior in moral and rational capabilities to the animal kingdom. In fact, the creation of Adam and Eve marks the high point of the creation account (Genesis 1:28-31), as God pronounced the first man Adam to be “very good.”

The ramifications of the fact that we are divine image bearers are multifaceted and profound…

(HT: Justin Taylor at Gospel Coalition)

Be sure to join us for Christmas Services at The Vine. Our Christmas Eve services will be on Saturday at 4:30 pm and our Christmas day services will be on Sunday at 10:00 am. Both services will be located at Lapham Elementary School. We look forward to seeing you!

• Body Wash
• Baby Powder
• Baby Oil
• Razors
• Pantene Conditioner
• Vaseline (small tube/containers)
• Desitine 
• Women’s Deodorant (roll on & stick)
• Feminine Products (tampons and light days pads)
• Disinfectant Wipes
• Pine Sol
• Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Tub & Tile Cleaner
• Windex (multi-purpose, disinfectant)

Trevin Wax was a very creative and well written post entitled, "How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go". He writes:

Just once, I’d like to see a TV interview go more like this...

It would be very useful for many of us to memorize these responses. So helpful.

This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

Community: Taking Your Small Group off Life Support from Crossway on Vimeo.

Evangelicals commonly think today that the gospel is only for unbelievers. Once we’re inside the kingdom’s door, we need the gospel only in order to share it with those who are still outside. Now, as believers, we need to hear the message of discipleship. We need to learn how to live the Christian life and be challenged to go do it. That’s what I believed and practiced in my life and ministry for some time. It is what most Christians seem to believe.

As I see it, the Christian community is largely a performance-based culture today. And the more deeply committed we are to following Jesus, the more deeply ingrained the performance mindset is. We think we earn God’s blessing or forfeit it by how well we live the Christian life.

Most Christians have a baseline of acceptable performance by which they gauge their acceptance by God. For many, this baseline is no more than regular church attendance and the avoidance of major sins. Such Christians are often characterized by some degree of self-righteousness. After all, they don’t indulge in the major sins we see happening around us. Such Christians would not think they need the gospel anymore. They would say the gospel is only for sinners.

For committed Christians, the baseline is much higher. It includes regular practice of spiritual disciplines, obedience to God’s Word, and involvement in some form of ministry. Here again, if we focus on outward behavior, many score fairly well. But these Christians are even more vulnerable to self-righteousness, for they can look down their spiritual noses not only at the sinful society around them but even at other believers who are not as committed as they are. These Christians don’t need the gospel either. For them, Christian growth means more discipline and more commitment.

Then there is a third group. The baseline of this group includes more than the outward performance of disciplines, obedience, and ministry. These Christians also recognize the need to deal with sins of the heart like a critical spirit, pride, selfishness,envy,resentment, and anxiety. They see their inconsistency in having their quiet times, their failure to witness at every opportunity, and their frequent failures in dealing with sins of the heart. This group of Christians is far more likely to be plagued by a sense of guilt because group members have not met their own expectations. And because they think God’s acceptance of them is based on their performance, they have little joy in their Christian lives. For them, life is like a treadmill on which they keep slipping farther and farther behind. This group needs the gospel, but they don’t realize it is for them. I know, because I was in this group.

Gradually over time, and from a deep sense of need, I came to realize that the gospel is for believers, too. When I finally realized this, every morning I would pray over a Scripture such as Isaiah 53:6,” All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all,” and then say, “Lord, I have gone astray. I have turned to my own way, but you have laid all my sin on Christ and because of that I approach you and feel accepted by you.”

I came to see that Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me,” was made in the context of justification (see vv. 15-21). Yet Paul was speaking in the present tense: “The life I now live ….” Because of the context, I realized Paul was not speaking about his sanctification but about his justification. For Paul, then, justification (being declared righteous by God on the basis of the righteousness of Christ) was not only a past-tense experience but also a present-day reality. Paul lived every day by faith in the shed blood and righteousness of Christ. Every day he looked to Christ alone for his acceptance with the Father. He believed, like Peter (see 1 Pet. 2:4-5), that even our best deeds–our spiritual sacrifices–are acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ. Perhaps no one apart from Jesus himself has ever been as committed a disciple both in life and ministry as the Apostle Paul. Yet he did not look to his own performance but to Christ’s “performance” as the sole basis of his acceptance with God.

So I learned that Christians need to hear the gospel all of their lives because it is the gospel that continues to remind us that our day-to-day acceptance with the Father is not based on what we do for God but upon what Christ did for us in his sinless life and sin-bearing death. I began to see that we stand before God today as righteous as we ever will be, even in heaven, because he has clothed us with the righteousness of his Son. Therefore, I don’t have to perform to be accepted by God.

Now I am free to obey him and serve him because I am already accepted in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). My driving motivation now is not guilt but gratitude. Yet even when we understand that our acceptance with God is based on Christ’s work, we still naturally tend to drift back into a performance mindset. Consequently, we must continually return to the gospel. To use an expression of the late Jack Miller, we must “preach the gospel to ourselves every day.” For me that means I keep going back to Scriptures such as Isaiah 53:6, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 8:1. It means I frequently repeat the words from an old hymn, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

ALBANY - Notorious "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz has no interest in getting out of jail.

Berkowitz said prison is "not a good place" but he has no plans to seek his release because God has already made him a "free man" by forgiving him.

"Jesus Christ has already forgiven and pardoned me," Berkowitz wrote in a recent letter to a Fox News reporter. "He has given me a whole new life, which I do not deserve."

Berkowitz added that "while society will never forgive me, God has."

The famed serial killer is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences at the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in the Catskills for a string of killings that terrorized the city during the 1970s.

Berkowitz, a former Yonkers resident, has been denied parole five times and has been in prison 34 years.

He is eligible for a sixth parole hearing next year.

"I would do anything if I could go back and change things and have prevented the tragedy from happening," Berkowitz wrote.

How you respond to this story can tell you a lot about your view of God,  sin, and the Gospel. 

Be honest. What was your immediate thought when reading him say, "while society will never forgive me, God has"?

Most honest, for me, it was, a quick thought of, "Really?  Wow.  That is pretty scandalous." 

Exactly.  Quite scandalous.  What this reaction exposes is that I am still in process to believe that my justification is truly by grace through faith.  Completely a work of Jesus' righteousness given to me.  I still like to contribute a little here and there. 

If God can't forgive a serial killer, why should he forgive you?  On what basis? 

If you are ready sign-up or if you have more questions, please email any of the pastors or drop a note to info@thevinemadison.org. A sign-up will also be available on September 11 and 18 during our Sunday gathering. If you want more information on membership, here is an excellent document by Redeemer Church on the Biblical Basis for Membership. 

As he was closing his sermon on Sunday, my pastor made this wonderful point:

“If you want to know whether you love religion or whether you love the gospel, check and see how angry you are at God.”

Now consider an agrarian economy.  Here time might mean survival.  Delay planting and you might miss the rain.  Take a day off in the midst of harvest and your produce might over-ripen or even rot.  With these risks in mind, the Sabbath was a big deal.  It was a test, a weekly tutorial for anxious people.  God was saying through it, "I am the Creator God who will care for your needs.  Embedded in the rhythm of your week will be an opportunity to rest.  You will do this because I rested on the Sabbath, and you will do it because I continue to be at work on your behalf on the Sabbath."

Just when your think you are getting the knack of the manna and are not worrying about tomorrow, you are told to trust your heavenly Father for today and tomorrow.  Once again, we can't help but be astonished at God's strategy.  Worry and fear are about danger, perceived needs, and being out of control. By incorporating the Sabbath into the normal rhythms of life he gives us weekly opportunities to say, "You, God, are in control, and I will practice trusting you by honoring your Sabbath and resting today."

- Ed Welch, Running Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest, p. 78

The Sterner’s address is: 4609 Bautista Drive, McFarland, WI 53558.

The Vine Church Exists....

• Week 1: For Glory of God 
• Week 2: For the Local Mission of God 
• Week 3: For the Global Mission of God 
• Week 4: For the Community of God 
• Week 5: For the Transforming Gospel of Jesus 
• Week 6: For the Saving Gospel of Jesus 

We have two socials planned this summer for those of you who are wanting to meet the leadership and learn more about the vision of The Vine. The first is this Sunday, July 17th at 6:30 pm at Pastor Nate Hobert's home in Fitchburg. It will be a dessert social where there will be an opportunity for casual connecting and discussion as well as a brief presentation and Q&A time with the Elders. Entire families are welcome! The August 14th social will be at Pastor Scott Sterner's home in McFarland. If you are interested in attending either of these events, please RSVP by contacting one of the pastors or emailing us at info@thevinemadison.org. You can look below for a map to the Hobert's home in Fitchburg. 

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I am not saying we can skip the details. I must apply in the details! Christian liberty is not avoiding specific application of truth. I am saying that I cannot take my application and proclaim it as Scripture. I dare not state my application as having the same authority as Scripture. I can say, “The Bible tells me to flee from immorality. The Bible tells me not to have fellowship with deeds of darkness. In my case, I think that means I should not watch PG-13 movies. That is my conscience before God.”

 Apply that to your school choices, application of gender roles, major purchases, how many kids to have, whether to watch and what to watch in media, whether to drink wine and beer and, etc. The Bible says nothing about watching TV. The Bible, given in the wisdom of God, has enough principles to shape how we answer that question. God the Spirit will help us apply. More than that, we will grow and change in our application. But keep your applications separate from the pure Word of God.

The whole thing here.

1. Sin is not taken seriously within our culture; consequently, people inside and outside the faith don’t feel their need for confession.
2. Those who believe in eternal security feel as though sin (in particularly non-scandalous sin) is somewhat of a non-issue in general.  
3. Evangelicals have seen the abuses of confession within Roman Catholicism and have, therefore, distanced themselves from the practice. 

As believers we need to take seriously our sin and the importance of confessing our sin to one another and to God. Below is a prayer guide you can use individually or with your family. The guide is based upon David’s prayer of confession in Psalm 51. 

Repent from Your Sin (Psalm 51:1-6)

1. Recognize the punishment your sin deserves.
2. Take responsibility for your sin. Don’t blame others or God.
3. Grieve over your sin.

Seek Forgiveness for Your Sin (Psalm 51:7-12)

1. Ask God for forgiveness.
2. Ask God to restore your joy.
3. Ask God to draw close to you. 

Pray for A Fruitful Life (Psalm 51:13-19)

1. Ask God to sanctify your life for the purpose of reaching people for Christ.
2. Ask God to turn your life to a sacrifice of praise.
3. Ask God to bring revival to the Church.

The gospel of justification by faith is such a shocker, such an explosion, because it is an absolutely unconditional promise. It is not an “if-then” kind of statement, but “because-therefore” pronouncement: because Jesus dies and rose, your sins are forgiven and you are righteous in the sight of God! It bursts in upon our little world all shut up and barricaded behind our accustomed conditional thinking as some strange comet from goodness-knows-where, something we can’t really seem to wrap our minds around, the logic of which appears closed to us. How can it be entirely unconditional? Isn’t it terribly dangerous? How can anyone say flat out, “You are righteous for Jesus’ sake? Is there not some price to be paid, some-thing (however minuscule) to be done? After all, there can’t be such thing as a free lunch, can there?”

You see, we really are sealed up in the prison of our conditional thinking. It is terribly difficult for us to get out, and even if someone batters down the door and shatters the bars, chances are we will stay in the prison anyway! We seem always to want to hold out for something somehow, that little bit of something, and we do it with a passion and an anxiety that betrays its true source–the Old Adam that just does not want to lose control.

- Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life, pg. 24 

(HT:  Tullian)

One of the beautiful things about the theology of adoption is that it changes the way we think, speak of, and do “church”.

Being a part of a church community that understands adoption is a life-changing, beautiful thing. It is unlike anything you will ever experience on this earth, because it is a taste of our eternal reality.

If you know and love Jesus, you will spend eternity praising your heavenly Father right along side your fellow co-heirs with Christ. This means that the believers who fill your local church will spend eternity in perfect union with you, as the bride of Christ, partaking of their shared inheritance in Christ. It means every Christian brother and sister that you currently know will be in their glorified bodies, perfectly worshiping your Father.

This truth means that the church family God has placed you in is the most meaningful set of family relationships you will ever have. They are more meaningful then your co-workers who have a lot in common with you, more important then your life-long childhood friends, and more valuable then your biological family. I suspect you will not spend eternity with a bunch of faceless Christians that you never knew on this earth, but I imagine you’ll be shouting out praises to your living God right next to the woman who sat 3 rows back from you 52 Sundays per year.

Read the rest.

We just finished our series in Ephesians with Paul’s instruction in 6:18, “praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.” Prayer is an essential element in God’s Kingdom advance on this earth. This is why it is The Vine will be spending the next 4 weeks focusing on prayer in services. May this series turn our hearts toward the source of all truth and life... the one who must go before us as we seek to spread his fame in the city of Madison and around the world. The following is our focus in the upcoming weeks:

• 5/29 - Nate Hobert: Genesis 18:22-33
• 6/5 - Zach Nielsen: Habakuk 3:2
• 6/12 - Scott Sterner: Psalm 51
• 6/19 - Zach Nielsen: The Lord’s Prayer

I closed the sermon by recalling a story that Rod Rosenbladt told me when we were together at the recent Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. It’s a story about a middle-aged woman who needed help from her pastor.

She went to her pastor and said, “Pastor, you know that I had an abortion a number of years ago?” “Yes,” the Pastor replied. “Well, I need to talk to you about the man I’ve since met.” “Alright,” replied the Pastor.

“Well, we met a while back, and started dating and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then things got more serious between us and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. A while later we got engaged and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then we got married and I thought, I really need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. So I needed to talk to someone, Pastor, and you’re it.”

The Pastor replied, “You know, we have a service for this. Let’s go through that together.” So they did – a service of confession and absolution.

When they were finished, she said to him, “Now I think I have the courage to tell my new husband about my abortion. Thanks, Pastor.”

And the Pastor replied to her, “What abortion?”

What the Pharisee, the prostitute, and all of us need to remember every day is that Christ offers forgiveness full and free from both our self-righteous goodness and our unrighteous badness. This is the hardest thing for us to believe as Christians. We think it’s a mark of spiritual maturity to hang onto our guilt and shame. We’ve sickly concluded that the worse we feel, the better we actually are. The declaration of Psalm 103:12 is the most difficult for us to grasp and embrace: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Or, as Corrie ten Boom once said, “God takes our sins—the past, present, and future—and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says ‘No Fishing allowed.’”

I know this seems too good to be true, but it’s true. No strings attached. No but’s. No conditions. No need for balance. If you are a Christian, you are right now under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ. Your pardon is full and final. In Christ, you’re forgiven. You’re clean. It is finished.

What abortion?

Read the rest.

This morning I read an article by John Piper in which he reflects on his retirement. At 35-years-old, I can’t imagine that I was the target audience for the piece. 

It reminded me of something. (Let me elaborate and then I will wind back around to the article.) When I was a young mom with small children, I remember looking for other young moms to share my life with. There’s nothing wrong with that. Women often seek out friends who look like them. 

I understand the reasoning. For starters, the logistics are easier. When you hang out at a house with sippy cups, you don’t have to worry ancient Egyptian relics being displayed at knee level. 

But it also made navigating those early years a little harder than they needed to be. And let me tread carefully (because women need each other in a profound way), but when I surrounded myself exclusively with people struggling with the same issues that I was, it distorted my perspective. Enter, the mommy wars– the field where bottles and breasts are moral issues and vaccinating your child will demote your standing on the playground. 

I remember crying after I got a smackdown on the playground because my toddler was still (!) using a bottle at 18-months-old. He is a teenager now, and he does not use a bottle or suck his thumb. He even makes it to the potty in time. (He doesn’t pick up his big boy toys without death threats, but it is not my fault. Really.) I love my baby, but really, I did not have the mature perspective to distinguish between moral issues and practical ones when he was young. I was young (and still am). 

What does this have to do with Piper’s article on retirement? Only this: that the more we invest our lives into learning and growing from those that don’t “look like us”, the more we’ll learn. It’s a challenge, to me and to all the women who tend to join bandwagons and get all myopic about our pet issues.

Read the rest.

[12] He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. [13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, [14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

[15] When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” [16] But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. [17] And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ [18] But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ [19] And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ [20] And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ [21] So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ [22] And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ [23] And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. [24] For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” - Luke 14:12-24

I like to hang out with the cool kids.  Don't we all?  Cool kids smell better, look better, act better, and usually make me feel cool too.

Cool kids usually don't need Jesus.

Sometime I wonder if our evangelistic efforts in our churches are stunted because we don't gravitate towards the most broken in our society.

Do cool kids need Jesus?  They sure do, but the problem is that most of them don't know they do.  

They are not desperate enough.  Are our lives and churches structured around the people that Jesus said would receive him?  The broken, weak, and needy?  The "least of these"?  Why not?

It's awkward, I know.  I don't want to do it either.  But what part of the Cross is not awkward? Painfully awkward.

I'm not advocating for a new "program".  Just wondering out loud about how we do evangelism and how we could maybe do it better.