Michael Craven

Michael Craven

DISCIPLESHIP SERIES: Knowing Thyself is Key to Knowing God

The pursuit of accurate self-knowledge is an essential starting point in modern Christian discipleship. I believe this is made more so in our day due to the overwhelming disposition of our culture toward always making people feel good about themselves. Additionally, the increasingly secular milieu of the nation obscures any meaningful comparison to the one to whom there is no comparison: Jesus Christ. By emphasizing only the eternal benefits coupled with an inaccurate understanding of oneself, the gospel may end up being received and understood as nothing more than an addendum to already well-lived life. In other words, “I’m really okay, but I know I need Jesus to get into heaven.”

DISCIPLESHIP SERIES: The Kingdom is Revealed Through Us More than I

So, how do we express the gospel of the kingdom beyond its modern reductionist version? You know, the detached consumer-oriented, drive-by evangelism that often relies on tracts and rote presentations—often between strangers.

DISCIPLESHIP SERIES: Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?

Perhaps the best way to understand the goal of the kingdom and why Jesus came to earth is to recall more precisely what sin has ruined. In Genesis 3 we see a succession of four fundamental relationships that experience a break from God’s good design and intent. These four relationships are the building blocks for all human activity. Thus the effects of the fall extend far beyond the severance of man’s personal relationship with God...

DISCIPLESHIP SERIES: Is Jesus a King Without a Kingdom?

Today when evangelicals speak of the gospel, they almost always mean, simply, the personal plan of salvation. This is generally limited to an activity in which we present people with some facts about Jesus, ask them to agree with these facts, and if they do, instruct them to invite him into their lives or pray the sinner’s prayer. Once they do this, we tell them, “You are saved!” We’ve heard this version of the gospel so many times that we don’t even bother to question it—we simply accept it as “the gospel.” However, when we put aside our culturally induced conceptions and study the scriptures, we discover...

DISCIPLESHIP SERIES: Working Out Our Salvation with Love and Charity

It appears, based on some of the reactions to last week’s commentary, that we need to further explore the subject of the gospel of the kingdom. Let’s face it: what we believe about Jesus’ mission—why he came to earth—is an essential starting point in discipleship. The slightest deviation at the beginning can result in dramatic differences in our conclusions, in much the same way that starting a few degrees off course can lead you far from your intended destination.

Modern Discipleship: Preparing for Evacuation Rather Than Occupation

It is all too evident that biblical discipleship is either absent or woefully inadequate to producing any tangible fruit, much less real freedom in Christ. Thus too many within the body are mired in sin management rather than freedom from it, while others remain shackled by past wounds and sinful choices, and far too many are discouraged by the elusiveness of peace that Christ promised. There are a number of reasons why I think we have come to neglect disciple making. Foremost may be...

With Thanksgiving ... Despite Other Stuff

This past week, my mother-in-law passed from this life to the next. Compounding the grief associated with her passing is the absence of our oldest son as he is halfway around the world serving in the Marine Corps. These events serve to remind me that this life is both brief and fleeting—that everything eventually changes and that any small measure of peace and security we derive from this life is never final. There is a melancholy that accompanies this realization, a sadness that reminds me what my sin has done to God’s good creation. It is during such a season that I am compelled to look beyond this world to Christ alone for my hope and comfort.

Political Reflections: Does The Election Really Matter?

Personally, I am delighted to see that the alarming shift toward European-style socialism has suffered some measure of arrest. Americans, in large majority, appear committed to the constitutional idea of limited government (at least for the moment). However, the results also reveal the very limited and temporal nature of politics.

The Christian Conquest of Pagan Rome

This is the conclusion to my series, "Changing Culture: A Study in Cultural Engagement." Here, we come to our third and final example of cultural engagement: the early Christian church and its triumph over the pagan culture of Rome. Once imperial power was discredited by the superior life and ethic of the Christian community, the church would build upon its newfound cultural credibility and eventually ascend to the heights of cultural power and influence. And, Western civilization would become the most successful civilization in history.

Changing Culture: A Study in Cultural Engagement - Part 3

The second example in our study of cultural engagement is the legalization of abortion. The legalization of abortion did not emerge out of a vacuum nor did it appear as a sudden and unexpected contrast to established values. Roe v. Wade was the inevitable consequence of incremental cultural changes that began with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. The Enlightenment would, among other things, give birth to the “autonomous self.” Modern man would seek to exalt himself above God, leading to sexual anarchy and removing all impediments to unfettered sexual expression.