Ignite UK

This will be the last guest post on the DG National Conference.  I will be working on bringing it all together as well as commenting on the message delivered by John Piper to close the conference.  This post is by Todd Burus, who we providentially ran across.  I am grateful to have been able to spend some time with Todd and do some catching up.  Enjoy the review of Mark Driscoll.

It is a not-so-well kept secret that Mark Driscoll is a little bit controversial.  It is also not-so-well kept that John Piper has endured much criticism for inviting Pastor Mark to speak at past Desiring God conferences and yet unashamedly stands by his decision to do so.  The dynamic of these two not-so-well kept secrets was in full display as soon as Driscoll took the stage Friday night for a Panel Discussion with Dr. Piper and fellow conference presenter Sinclair Ferguson, first by Driscoll making mention to his recent blog post, “Why I Love John Piper,” and adding the subtitle “but not in the Episcopalian way,” and second in his heartfelt statement that “If John Piper asked me to come to Minneapolis to cut his grass I would.”

Given that track record it is little surprise that Dr. Piper asked Mark to handle the issue of controversial or harsh words, which he did in his message entitled “How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words.”  So, for about 90 minutes Pastor Mark used his expertise in controversy and depth of biblical knowledge, mixed with intervals of humor and ear-popping volume, to nail home how we as Christians should view handling the less warm-and-fuzzy words which must occasionally be spoken in our life of service to God.  In the form of a true Calvinist, Driscoll broke his message down into 5 points (though the acronym FRSBP made from them is not likely to catch on as well as TULIP).

The overarching argument of Driscoll’s talk was that, in approaching various categories of people in the Christian life, we need to be prepared to use different words based on who we’re talking to.  The first point he made was that Christians need to Feed the Sheep (Regular Christians).  To this extent he quoted Ephesians 4.32 and Romans 14, stating that we should treat those who are our brothers and sisters in good standing, who are just living their lives doing their best to be faithful to God’s word, with kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness.  He also commented that this attitude should not extend to the wolves, a point we’ll return to later.

Next, Driscoll said that we should Rebuke the Swine (the Habitually Unrepentant).  It was at this point that Pastor Mark started bringing out the big guns, quoting various OT passages of God’s judgment such as Isaiah 3.16-24 and Ezekiel 16.26-28, pointing out the use of satirical rebuke in books like Amos, all directed at exposing the sins of the people who commit sins freely and in bold opposition to the repentance which God commands.

Point three was a big one: Shoot the Wolves (False Teachers).  It was here that Driscoll made a big impression, calling up the words of Jesus from Matthew 23.13-36 and asking the audience to consider replacing the words ‘scribes and Pharisees’ with ‘Baptist’, ‘Presbyterian’, ‘Reformed’, etc.  He then read through the passage, at times yelling so loud one would think their ears about to bleed.  He then ran through a list of NT passages which call us to look out for the wolves among us, stating that the reason we need to shoot the wolves is first and foremost because we love the sheep and want to protect them.

Of course Galatians 5.1-14 was also approached, pointing out the severe words of Paul to the Judaizers in v.12 which call for the false teachers teaching “Jesus + circumcision” to go all the way and emasculate themselves, an act which Driscoll smirkingly described as “going varsity.”  He followed v.12 by coupling it with vv.13-14 which call the brothers to love and service, pointing out that the severity of v.12 is best understood in this context, where we strive to destroy the person (or their false teaching, more later) before they destroy themselves in hell.  He then wrapped up this point by referring to various writings of Luther which displayed the Reformer’s anger towards false teachers and teachings of his day.

The fourth point Driscoll made was that as solid Christians we should Bark at the Dogs (Religious People).  This point played into the popular argument against the vague spirituality of our time, the worshipping of religion instead of Jesus, and Pastor Mark elaborated on that by showing the destruction of spiritual religious people in OT texts about Elijah and from the prophet Isaiah.  He also spoke on the uselessness and ignorance of religion by how Jesus approached this in Matthew 15 and Paul in Philippians 3.8.

The last point Mark made was that we as Christians need to Pray for the Shepherds (Pastors and Elders).  It was here that Driscoll showed his cards, opening up the frustrations and stress that befalls a pastor such as himself who is out in the culture, engaging and being engaged from all angles, being ripped apart in the blogosphere and simultaneously mocked in the public square.  He asked for us to consider the context of preachers like him who are more vocal, sharing a disturbing story of how a local amateur porn competition is using him and his church as a theme for this years video submissions.

All said, I only have one criticism for this message, or to be more exact, a point which I think Mark tried to make but should have spent more time on, that being the need to not just destroy the false teacher and his teaching but also seek to see that teacher restored to a right relationship with God and also not to harbor hatred towards them no matter what they say.  For this point I think I would turn to Matthew 5.43-45 (‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’).  We do not want to condone the leading astray of our congregations by false teaching, but at the same time we need to keep a missionary mindset, always seeking the redemption of the lost.

In the end it was certainly a memorable message, as Driscoll was definitely on fire for the Lord this day.  I know that he is not always the most welcomed pastor in Christian circles, even among those with Reformed convictions, but from spending an hour-and-a-half watching him offer his body up before the Lord in his message to the 3200 attendees in Minneapolis it was clear that God has blessed him uniquely with a passion and voice that is a breath of fresh air to many people who otherwise would be outside the church today.  Thank you Pastor Mark for your passion, thank you John Piper for your vision in bringing him to the conference, and thank you God for the ministries of both these men which have impacted countless thousands of lives for your glory.