Looking forward to Fight Club

I’m very excited to soon see a finalized e-book version of Fight Club: Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson. Jonathan is Lead Pastor of Austin City Life in Austin, Texas.

His gospel-centered emphases are water for my soul, always pointing past himself to the One who is our only Hope. A couple years ago I ran across his writings/articles on Boundless and was hooked. Fight Club looks to be a synthesis of both seeing our true enemies, and Gospel-motivated tactics. There are three simple rules for the fight clubs:

1. Know your sin
2. Fight your sin (together)
3. Trust the Savior

The church is notorious — both in anecdotes and in real life — for fighting sin as either wimps (cheap grace) or bullies (legalism). Neither will change the inner man, and both are a farce when it comes to learning to know, love and enjoy God.

(One thing I expressly appreciate about this type of resource is it is community-focused. No one can be a disciples of Jesus by himself — not even your pastor. We need one another, no matter how jacked-up we may be.)

Here’s a summary of the five chapters:

Chapter One lays out a biblical case for fighting the fight of faith, which I hope stirs you up to fight the fight of faith. Once the fighting begins, it is easy to slide into fighting people instead of sin. We start beating one another up with judgment, fighting the wrong things with the wrong motives. We fight against the church instead of with her.

Chapter Two explores where we go wrong in our fighting by uncovering legalistic and licentious patterns in discipleship.

In turn, Chapter Three calls us away from these extremes into a gospel-centered discipleship. With the gospel at the center of discipleship, we can live as Jesus intended—fighting the good fight of faith which leads to true change. However, if weren’t not careful we’ll start to fight on our own. Failure to grasp the community focus of the gospel can cut us off from the grace God gives through his people, the church.

Chapter Four reminds us that discipleship is a community project because the gospel is community focused. Jesus created and redeemed us as people in relationship, people who need one another in the fight of faith. Instead of fighting against the church, we can fight with her, to live a life that is motivated by all that God is for us in the Spirit and the Son.

In conclusion, Chapter Five offers a practical way to apply the gospel to everyday life. It is a call for Fight Clubs—small, simple, biblical, reproducible groups of people who meet together regularly help one another keep the gospel at the center of their discipleship. Fight Clubs have been crucial in my life and my church. I hope and pray that you’ll find them helpful too, that you’ll form a Fight Club and start fighting with the church, in the gospel, on mission, for the glory of God.