Mark Driscoll and the Gospel

I don’t know Mark Driscoll. I’ve never met him. I think I might have listened to a sermon or two of his on a podcast. I haven’t read his books because I tend to read at a different place that he has targeted in his writings.

I have read lots about him. Some of it appears to be true – it comes from his own confessional statements about his past. No doubt some of it is not true – not sure one human being could actually manage to do all that some have said he has done.

Theologically, he and I are not on the same page on more than a few issues, though I do think he believes pretty much the same thing about Jesus that I believe. If that’s true, then in order to be consistent with what I’ve been saying in class for a hundred or so years, I have to think “everything else can be worked on.”

I’m guessing that his personality and mine would clash pretty seriously if we had to work together, but have a hard time seeing that as mortal sin. Some of his tactics – especially those that involve saying pretty harsh things in the context of anonymous internet posts – are offensive to me. He often seems prone to treat very complex issues in very simplistic ways and that doesn’t appeal to me. Issues of gender and sexuality are way more complicated than I think he thinks. We would probably disagree on which word in the phrase “servant leadership” is most important. 

But today is a sad day and I refuse to join the choruses of those who see his resignation as somehow a victory of sorts. It should break our hearts that an obviously effective communicator and leader is stepping away from the place of service he has occupied for a long time.

I’ve always found Paul’s comments in Philippians 1:15-18 very convicting. Remember, he is writing those words from a prison cell, in Rome most likely, and from my calculations about the timeline of his life, he has been in jail either in Jerusalem, Caesarea, or Rome for about four years. Clearly in Philippians 1 he isn’t sure what the ultimate outcome is going to be. 

Yet he somehow musters the courage of faith to declare that even though some “proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry . . . selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment” he will still rejoice because “Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice.”

Far too many believers, and especially leaders, seem to operate from a “my way or the highway” approach to life. Unless you do ministry like I do, in the same kind of context I do, and aren’t one person bigger than my church in average attendance – then you can’t be “of God.” Please. Where does that come from?

I wonder what would happen if we somehow found the courage to rejoice every time the kingdom of God advances its territorial claim to planet earth and found the compassion to be heartbroken every time someone stumbles. 

Mark Driscoll and I would probably never be close friends. But I refuse to find any joy in the fact that he no longer is the preacher at Mars Hill.

Perhaps we should pray that God would make us a bit more like Paul and whole lot less like those who rejoice (even if privately in our hearts because we’re too afraid to do so openly) when a fellow believer struggles.