Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.

Psalm 127:1

A friend and brother of Christ who I met only briefly some months ago returned to my place of work for a short time this week, and he made a recommendation. He said I should check out the podcast from Christianity Today called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. I listen to podcasts on my trek through Hawaii traffic to work almost every morning, so it was no burden at all to take the recommendation and start listening.

               The podcast itself aired over the course of about a year and appears to have finished in November of 2022. This post then comes far after the time. In terms of the internet age, it may as well have aired prior to the birth of Christ it was so long ago. Yet, true principles thankfully remain true through the tempest of time, and by God’s grace we can touch on a few of those lasting truths.  I won’t be reviewing the podcast in its entirety; I will simply use the opportunity to discuss a couple items of importance. When I finished listening to the first episode, I found myself, angry, frustrated, confused, and worried for the state of the modern Church. It was not so much that I was in turmoil over the fall of Mars Hill, but rather by the approach taken by Christianity Today which placed the onus of the rise and fall into the hands of men rather than the hands of a sovereign God who is the ultimate protector, builder, and deliverer of His Church. We have a bad habit of forgetting that the Church is the Bride of Christ, and He has her good in mind greater than any one of us. So, while Christianity Today developed what seems to be an interesting and in-depth practical look at the rise and fall of this ministry – I want to answer the question raised by the topic of the podcast in a perhaps more unsettling way – why did Mars Hill rise and fall? Let’s explore.

               There was a time in my life and Christian walk that I wanted to attend seminary at Mars Hill. I knew very little of the pastors and even less about my own real positions on various theological issues, but after reading Blue Like Jazz during my high school years, where Mark Driscoll was referenced, it seemed like a good option. I never attended the church, and to my knowledge I have never listened to a full sermon from Driscoll or anyone from Mars Hill. I did not even know of its collapse until this friend brought it up to me last week. I have no doubt that God used the rise and fall of Mars Hill in the expansion of the Gospel in many beautiful ways, including the generation of church planting through Acts 29 ministries and others. Yet, we do not judge a church only by its temporal outcomes, but rather by its eternal fruits. We mustn’t forget a very important truth – that the ministry of God’s Word ultimately belongs to God.

               The Lord works in beautiful ways, and perhaps you will see it the same. I also listen regularly to Renewing Your Mind, a podcast put out by Ligonier Ministries. It just so happened that this same week, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey of Ligonier was being broadcast in his work on the early parts of the book of Revelation. He was speaking of the cycles of the book, and the earliest lessons were on the letters to the Churches. The very first letter, to the Church in Ephesus, is, to me, the critical component to answer the question raised by the first podcast on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. What is the warning to the Church in Ephesus? Revelation 2:1-5 says “’To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.’”

               The church letters of Revelation are to specific churches of that day, but also may be used as warning to churches today. The letters express both specific instances to those churches and more general principles for the types of things that churches will face. The promise from Christ here, to the church in Ephesus, is that if you do not repent of abandoning the love you had at first then your lampstand will be removed. In the previous chapter we are told expressly that the lampstands are the churches, so a threat to remove the lampstand is a threat to remove the church in Ephesus entirely. That should not be read as a threat to remove elect believers from the people of God more broadly as there is ample evidence elsewhere in scripture for the preservation of the saints unto salvation by the power and grace of God. Rather we should understand that that particular temporal representation of the True Church will be removed if that particular local church will not repent.

               What does this have to do with Mars Hill? Immense proclamation of the gospel (even if we would disagree on some theological points) did occur due to the expansion of Mars Hill and associated ministries. God’s Word never goes out void, even from the lips of men who are unfit to proclaim it. In fact, since all men are unfit to proclaim the gospel, it is an immensity of grace that allows that the gospel be preached by such broken instruments as men at all. That is a profound mystery of the love of God that He would use us as means for His Word to go forward. Still, Paul even says, “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice” (Philippians 1:15-18).

               It would be foolish to claim that Mars Hill pastors preached Christ in order to afflict Paul in his imprisonment, but the final point made by Paul is applicable here. No matter the reason, so long as Christ is proclaimed, there is reason for rejoicing. We recognize that the proclamation of Christ must mean a true proclamation, an expression of who He really is, based on the Word, but that could be said of Mars Hill. Christ was preached, and the gospel of Christ, in perhaps less of a clear form than many of us would like, but a real gospel nonetheless. To whatever degree Mars Hill preached the True Gospel, I rejoice wholeheartedly, in lives changed for Christ, in addictions broken, in all the good fruits of the Spirit, in the expansion of God’s kingdom. God honors His own Word, after all, even when we dishonor it by accident or intent. It is living and active and will make correction. It will penetrate to dividing joint and marrow. God’s Word will judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart – and so the Word did and does judge Mars Hill corporately. And we see in the warning to Ephesus the very real possibility of Christ removing a local church that has lost its way. – Interesting note from Godfrey’s discussion of the letter to Ephesus is that Ephesus is the only city among those seven that no longer has any real existence in the modern world. Draw from that what conclusions you will.

               Why harp on this so much? Why care whether it was human frailty or God’s judgement in the case of Mars Hill? Why not think through the practical applications of why a ministry does this or that? Why not be pragmatic and think about what is effective and ineffective in ministry? Simple, because when we explain the world, action, inaction, and spiritual truths in terms of human activity primarily, we are misdirecting our focus. We are starting from the wrong side of the equation, and making central what is actually tangential. The whole of ministry to God is about God, for God, and unto God. Ministers of Christ are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). Ambassadors do not speak on their own, nor own their positions but serve at the pleasure of the higher authority, in this case Christ. All of the talk in the podcast of “Mark’s ministry” is already misdirected. If it was indeed ministry at all, it was Christ’s ministry. Such a perspective, not only from pastors but also from the lay people, is critical to the right humility in the work that God has given us to accomplish – indeed prepared beforehand that we should walk in (Ephesians 2:10).

               This may raise a question for us about the rise of false teachers, about many mega “churches” and others that are teaching no gospel at all. Why are they allowed to continue to exist while a place like Mars Hill comes to an end? Why does God not remove the lampstand of absolutely false churches? First, I must be careful not to speak for God in this without express scripture, but I would argue that it is because they never had a True Gospel at all that there is the continuance of their so-called “churches.” Prosperity gospel is no gospel and never was. Works-based righteousness is no gospel and never was. Vague spiritualism is no gospel, and never was. These were never real churches and never had real lampstands that gave any light of Christ to the world. While Christ comes to remove His ambassadors who have strayed from the True Gospel, He may allow the false gospels because they were ever and always will be false. Their darkness is already absolute, so there is no light of a lampstand to remove. They are not His people who teach or believe such things, but for a Church to have the truth and stray from it is a serious concern. To have ambassadors going rogue is a threat in a way that false ambassadors are not. A true ambassador can bring dishonor to his master with falsehood, while a false ambassador can only harm himself and those he deceives. Perhaps that is why Christ holds His ambassadors to a higher standard, and we get expressly in Scripture that He does hold those who teach to a higher standard (James 3:1).

               I do not desire here to throw dirt at fellow believers, at Christianity Today or those who may have been powerfully saved through the grace of God manifested in the various ministries of Mars Hill and affiliates. But I also do not wish to sugarcoat or weaken the point that Mars Hill, and dozens of other churches and leaders who have failed and fallen in western evangelicalism, illustrates – that God Himself is the minister of His Word and the protector of His Bride, and He will remove entirely those unfaithful who lead that Bride astray. I make no judgment of the eternal destination of Mark Driscoll, or Ravi Zacharias, or Ted Haggard, or many others whose names we know for all the wrong reasons. Rather I pray for the grace of repentance, and for those who have passed, that the grace of repentance was present in their lives as a gift of our glorious Father.

               This is, rather, a warning to pastors and believers in general, that the one to fear the most is not the world, the congregants, or even yourself. It is not personal failures, moral weakness, or the wiles and hatred of men that we must tremble over. We should fear God who bought us at the price of His Son and placed us into whatever ministry of His He decides. The fear of the Lord, after all, is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom (Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 9:10).

               To return to the idea of the rise and fall of Mars Hill. Why did it rise? Because a sovereign God saw fit to raise it up for His purposes. Why did it fall? Because the sovereign God brought it low to demonstrate His judgement on a straying from the truth in word and in deed. A local church always and ever rises at the hand of the Lord, is maintained by His grace and mercy, and falls by His judgment. It begins, continues, and ends with God. Our human responsibility is not erased in this, but, make no mistake, we can neither add nor subtract one good thing from all the work that our Lord will accomplish in this world for His purposes. He will have His glory, praise God.