Eph 6:20 '... that I might declare the gospel boldly...' the gospel is all about Jesus, it's the story of Jesus. The gospel, the whole thing is Jesus. Driscoll
Cavendish school: Christianity is about Jesus - 'Jesus rocks'
Luke 22:31
Jesus: 'Peter, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail...'
40
Jesus: 'pray that you may not enter into temptation.'
The intention of Luke here is to portray Jesus and his disciples in parallel, showing how each responds in then face of diabolic (satanic) offensive.
Lk 21:36 & 22:46 and here Jesus explains that one may faithfully persevere in times of testing through prayer.
Lloyd Jones comments that tragically often it is those who are most theologically sown up and literate in Biblical things who are also the ones who don't have prayer meetings, who don't see the necessity of 'praying always'.
Finally be strong in the lord and in the power of his might, put on the full armour of God... we concentrate on the armour of God but not on the 'be strong in the Lord' and so Paul brings us back to it again by this command to pray.
The secret of the Christian life is the Christian life in secret, in the secret place I should say.
'Praying with all kinds of prayer.' 'All prayer' That is all types of prayer 'public and private.' on my own noisily, quietly, with my wife, as a family, in church meetings, with non-believers, at prayer meetings... etc.
Lloyd-Jones 'be at it always and in endless ways.'
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
Spiritual warfare research: William gurnall
Take heart: have courage
God himself underwrites your battle and has appointed his own son the captain of your salvation.
Jesus lived and died for you and he will live and die with you.
Stand:
Just as an earthly soldier represents his country's honour in battle, the Christian represents God's honour whenever he is called to contend with temptation. Such testing quickly reveals how far we are willing to go in defending our sovereign's reputation.
When William the conqueror landed in England he sent away all his ships in full sight lf his men, the message was clear. Retreat is not an option, victory or death.
It should be the concern of every Christian to stand in his assigned place. The devil's method is first to rout and then to ruin.
Stand - Do Not Sleep
Standing is a waking, watching posture. In the military, 'stand to your arms!' means 'stay alert and watch!' in some cases it is death to a soldier to be found asleep when he is assigned to guard duty.
The saints sleeping time is satans prime tempting time.
God himself underwrites your battle and has appointed his own son the captain of your salvation.
Jesus lived and died for you and he will live and die with you.
Stand:
Just as an earthly soldier represents his country's honour in battle, the Christian represents God's honour whenever he is called to contend with temptation. Such testing quickly reveals how far we are willing to go in defending our sovereign's reputation.
When William the conqueror landed in England he sent away all his ships in full sight lf his men, the message was clear. Retreat is not an option, victory or death.
It should be the concern of every Christian to stand in his assigned place. The devil's method is first to rout and then to ruin.
Stand - Do Not Sleep
Standing is a waking, watching posture. In the military, 'stand to your arms!' means 'stay alert and watch!' in some cases it is death to a soldier to be found asleep when he is assigned to guard duty.
The saints sleeping time is satans prime tempting time.
Spiritual warfare research: watchman nee
Each one of us must be prepared for conflict
No Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without learning first to rest in Christ and in what he has done, and then, through the strength of he holy spirit within to follow him in a practical holy life here on earth. If he is deficient in either of these he will find that all the talk about spiritual warfare remains only talk; he will never know its reality. Satan can afford to ignore him because he does not count for anything.
- there are many direct attacks of Satan upon Gods children. Of course we must not attribute to the devil those troubles that are the result of our own breach of divine laws. we should by now know how to put those right.
The word 'stand' with its preposition 'against' really means 'hold your ground'.
This is not a command to invade foreign territory.
We are not told to 'march' but to 'stand', the ground we're on is really God's.
Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given them.
Only those who sit can stand. Our power for standing, as for walking, lies in our having first been made to sit together with Christ.
... If a Christian is not sitting before God he cannot hope to stand before the enemy.
In our warfare the name of Jesus is powerful against satanic powers to bind and bring them into subjection.
The name of Jesus is where we get our authority from.
Divine work can only be done with divine power and that power is to be found in the lord Jesus alone.
The name: mission trip to a Chinese island one new year during the national holiday. They preached the gospel with no effect and asked the people 'why do u not respond?' to which they replied 'we already have a God Ta-Wang. He has never failed us he is an effective god.'
'how do you know you can trust him?'
'every year we have a festival, the date is revealed by divination and for the past 286 years it has been a perfect day without rain or cloud.'
'when is the date this year?'
'11th January at 8am the festival will be.'
'there will be rain on that day!'
People were outraged and soon the word spread among the twenty thousand villagers that the Christian God is going to bring rain on Ta-wangs parade. On the morning of the 11th they missionaries woke to a cloudless sunny day. They sat down for breakfast, said grace and then asked for rain. The God of Elijah showed up and sent a torrent of rain and floods through the village. When the devotees of Ta-Wang tried to carry his statue round in the rain they slipped and he fell off his sedan chair and cracked. They put him on and slipped again, eventually they had to abandon the parade. For the rest of the day it was cloudless and sunny. The priests of Ta-wan said that they got the wrong date and set another (14th at 6pm). Again a cloudless sunny day arrived and again and 6pm not a minute later the heavens opened and the parade abandoned. The name of Jesus is mighty.
We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the lord Jesus, that rest is the source of our strength for a consistent and unflattering walk in the world. And at the end of a gruelling warfare with the hosts of darkness we are found standing with him at last in triumphant possession of the field. Unto him... Be the glory... Forever.
No Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without learning first to rest in Christ and in what he has done, and then, through the strength of he holy spirit within to follow him in a practical holy life here on earth. If he is deficient in either of these he will find that all the talk about spiritual warfare remains only talk; he will never know its reality. Satan can afford to ignore him because he does not count for anything.
- there are many direct attacks of Satan upon Gods children. Of course we must not attribute to the devil those troubles that are the result of our own breach of divine laws. we should by now know how to put those right.
The word 'stand' with its preposition 'against' really means 'hold your ground'.
This is not a command to invade foreign territory.
We are not told to 'march' but to 'stand', the ground we're on is really God's.
Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given them.
Only those who sit can stand. Our power for standing, as for walking, lies in our having first been made to sit together with Christ.
... If a Christian is not sitting before God he cannot hope to stand before the enemy.
In our warfare the name of Jesus is powerful against satanic powers to bind and bring them into subjection.
The name of Jesus is where we get our authority from.
Divine work can only be done with divine power and that power is to be found in the lord Jesus alone.
The name: mission trip to a Chinese island one new year during the national holiday. They preached the gospel with no effect and asked the people 'why do u not respond?' to which they replied 'we already have a God Ta-Wang. He has never failed us he is an effective god.'
'how do you know you can trust him?'
'every year we have a festival, the date is revealed by divination and for the past 286 years it has been a perfect day without rain or cloud.'
'when is the date this year?'
'11th January at 8am the festival will be.'
'there will be rain on that day!'
People were outraged and soon the word spread among the twenty thousand villagers that the Christian God is going to bring rain on Ta-wangs parade. On the morning of the 11th they missionaries woke to a cloudless sunny day. They sat down for breakfast, said grace and then asked for rain. The God of Elijah showed up and sent a torrent of rain and floods through the village. When the devotees of Ta-Wang tried to carry his statue round in the rain they slipped and he fell off his sedan chair and cracked. They put him on and slipped again, eventually they had to abandon the parade. For the rest of the day it was cloudless and sunny. The priests of Ta-wan said that they got the wrong date and set another (14th at 6pm). Again a cloudless sunny day arrived and again and 6pm not a minute later the heavens opened and the parade abandoned. The name of Jesus is mighty.
We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the lord Jesus, that rest is the source of our strength for a consistent and unflattering walk in the world. And at the end of a gruelling warfare with the hosts of darkness we are found standing with him at last in triumphant possession of the field. Unto him... Be the glory... Forever.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Spiritual Warfare Research: Driscoll
Extremes: thinking too much and thinking too little.
Screwtape Letters: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall. to disbelieve, to believe and feel and unhealthy and excessive interest in them.
Stories of experiencing spiritual warfare.
Jesus in all three of the synoptic gospels encounters satan. He has conflict with Satan and demons throughout his ministry.
Satan is an enemy of God and if we belong to Jesus he's going to be against us as well.
Screwtape Letters: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall. to disbelieve, to believe and feel and unhealthy and excessive interest in them.
Stories of experiencing spiritual warfare.
Jesus in all three of the synoptic gospels encounters satan. He has conflict with Satan and demons throughout his ministry.
Satan is an enemy of God and if we belong to Jesus he's going to be against us as well.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Spiritual Warfare Research: Freedom in Christ
1 John 3:8 'The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the Devil.'
Our temptation in the west is to ignore and disregard the role of the Devil in the Christian life.
Temptation is to think that the spiritual battle doesn';t affect Christians whereas the Christian is 'the bullseye'. The armour of God is for the Christian not the non-Christian.
1 John 5:19 'the whole world lies in his power.'
We tend to divide the world into two worlds 'supernatural' and 'natural'. Bible divides the world into 'creator' and 'creation'. Satan is a created being. There is no comparison between them. It is not equal forces against each other. To compare Satan to God is like comparing an ant with an atomic bomb. Satan is a created being and so can not be in all places at all times.
Colossians 2:15 Jesus disarmed Satan
Satan is under God's control and can only operate under God's control, like a dog on a chain. Satan can bark and he can snarl but he can only operate in the boundaries that God sets.
Satan does not know everything.
Satan works through an organised network of demonic powers. Deceiving spirits.
1 Timothy 4:1 the spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
How does Satan work? He puts thoughts in our minds.
1 Chronicles 29:1 - Satan incited David to take up a census. Temptation to take away confidence in God and place it in our own resources.
John 13:2 - The Devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot...
Acts 5:3 'Ananias how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?'
The strategies of Satan:
- Temptation
- Accusation
- Deception
Satan cannot stop you from completing the race but he does shout from the sidelines.
How to deal with the thoughts? Sit down and give up? Argue with them? Or... ignore them, take thoughts captive.
Deception is Satan's primary strategy against us.
Eph. 4:27 'If we don't deal with our anger we give the Devil a foothold.'
Satan's greatest access to our lives is through unforgiveness.
With our western worldview we tend to look for the activity opf the demonic in dramatics sessions: someone rolling on the floor etc.
Actually it can be found in the less dramatic, through unforgiveness, bitterness, gossip.
The fight isn't about ownership or possession but about influence. Satan wants to neutralise us or further his agenda.
Jess's testimony: for most of us the enemies attacks aren't as dramatic but they are still real.
Our defence:
- understand your position: with him who is seated far above all things Eph. 1:19-22
We have been given authority to go and make disciples of all nations.
- Submit to God and the Devil will flee from you. Satan has no power whatsoever to stop us from running to Jesus.
You/I have no cause to be afraid of demons. We don't need to be intimidated by things that go bump in the night. Demons are petrified by Christians who know their position in Christ. Demons have no power over Christians except what we give them.
Demons in the room?
Germs in the room. Appropriate response? Eat well, live well.
Appropriate response to demons in the room?
When doctors didn't know there were germs they didn't sterilise their instruments etc.
1 John 5:18 '...the evil one cannot harm him.'
Your authority over satan doesn't increase with volume - you needn't shout at satan.
Guard your minds: God never bypasses our minds. Don't put your mind into neutral. There is no mindless Christianity. We don't need a power encounter with the Devil, that happened on the cross. What we need is a truth encounter.
The real issue isn't so much where the thought came from but is it true. We are told to take every thought captive to Christ regardless of it's origin. Is this thought true?
Jesus prayed 'don't take them out of the world but protect them from the evil one.' How? 'Sanctify them by the word of truth.' Don't get obsessed with demons, that's letting satan set the agenda. Truth, fight lies, fight the enemy with truth.
Our temptation in the west is to ignore and disregard the role of the Devil in the Christian life.
Temptation is to think that the spiritual battle doesn';t affect Christians whereas the Christian is 'the bullseye'. The armour of God is for the Christian not the non-Christian.
1 John 5:19 'the whole world lies in his power.'
We tend to divide the world into two worlds 'supernatural' and 'natural'. Bible divides the world into 'creator' and 'creation'. Satan is a created being. There is no comparison between them. It is not equal forces against each other. To compare Satan to God is like comparing an ant with an atomic bomb. Satan is a created being and so can not be in all places at all times.
Colossians 2:15 Jesus disarmed Satan
Satan is under God's control and can only operate under God's control, like a dog on a chain. Satan can bark and he can snarl but he can only operate in the boundaries that God sets.
Satan does not know everything.
Satan works through an organised network of demonic powers. Deceiving spirits.
1 Timothy 4:1 the spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
How does Satan work? He puts thoughts in our minds.
1 Chronicles 29:1 - Satan incited David to take up a census. Temptation to take away confidence in God and place it in our own resources.
John 13:2 - The Devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot...
Acts 5:3 'Ananias how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?'
The strategies of Satan:
- Temptation
- Accusation
- Deception
Satan cannot stop you from completing the race but he does shout from the sidelines.
How to deal with the thoughts? Sit down and give up? Argue with them? Or... ignore them, take thoughts captive.
Deception is Satan's primary strategy against us.
Eph. 4:27 'If we don't deal with our anger we give the Devil a foothold.'
Satan's greatest access to our lives is through unforgiveness.
With our western worldview we tend to look for the activity opf the demonic in dramatics sessions: someone rolling on the floor etc.
Actually it can be found in the less dramatic, through unforgiveness, bitterness, gossip.
The fight isn't about ownership or possession but about influence. Satan wants to neutralise us or further his agenda.
Jess's testimony: for most of us the enemies attacks aren't as dramatic but they are still real.
Our defence:
- understand your position: with him who is seated far above all things Eph. 1:19-22
We have been given authority to go and make disciples of all nations.
- Submit to God and the Devil will flee from you. Satan has no power whatsoever to stop us from running to Jesus.
You/I have no cause to be afraid of demons. We don't need to be intimidated by things that go bump in the night. Demons are petrified by Christians who know their position in Christ. Demons have no power over Christians except what we give them.
Demons in the room?
Germs in the room. Appropriate response? Eat well, live well.
Appropriate response to demons in the room?
When doctors didn't know there were germs they didn't sterilise their instruments etc.
1 John 5:18 '...the evil one cannot harm him.'
Your authority over satan doesn't increase with volume - you needn't shout at satan.
Guard your minds: God never bypasses our minds. Don't put your mind into neutral. There is no mindless Christianity. We don't need a power encounter with the Devil, that happened on the cross. What we need is a truth encounter.
The real issue isn't so much where the thought came from but is it true. We are told to take every thought captive to Christ regardless of it's origin. Is this thought true?
Jesus prayed 'don't take them out of the world but protect them from the evil one.' How? 'Sanctify them by the word of truth.' Don't get obsessed with demons, that's letting satan set the agenda. Truth, fight lies, fight the enemy with truth.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Spiritual Warfare Research: Ernest Best
Comments on Ephesians:
The metaphor of battle was present in 4:8 but there it was Christ and not Christians who were involved in conflict.
It is not a question of a conflict within a divided self or a battle for the moral life, but a battle for the spiritual.
The devil does not set out to lure Christians into telling another lie or committing an act of fornication but to shatter their Christian existence.
Standing firm and praying should go on without ceasing.
If believers are to stand firm against the powers they need to both pray and be alert.
Believers need to pray continually because their struggle with the powers is never ending. The injunction however should not be taken so literally as to imply believers should spend all their time in prayer; what is required is a constant attitude of dependence on God.
Though the Spirit and prayer are related, we are not to think of praying in tongues but of prayer which is Spirit-led or directed.
Prayer is not to be given up lightly but persisted in.
While believers are urged to intercede for Paul it is not suggested that they pray for his release from prison.
Paul was also involved in the struggle. It isn't something that anyone of us is immune to.
Paul prayer request is not one for the loosing of his chains or for the opening of a door before him to continue his mission work. It is instead a prayer request that though imprisoned he may still continue the struggle. Paul does not bemoan his fater in being a prisoner but seeks to continue his preaching.
Believers have been supplied with supernatural armour which is to be worn with prayer and alertness.
The metaphor of battle was present in 4:8 but there it was Christ and not Christians who were involved in conflict.
It is not a question of a conflict within a divided self or a battle for the moral life, but a battle for the spiritual.
The devil does not set out to lure Christians into telling another lie or committing an act of fornication but to shatter their Christian existence.
Standing firm and praying should go on without ceasing.
If believers are to stand firm against the powers they need to both pray and be alert.
Believers need to pray continually because their struggle with the powers is never ending. The injunction however should not be taken so literally as to imply believers should spend all their time in prayer; what is required is a constant attitude of dependence on God.
Though the Spirit and prayer are related, we are not to think of praying in tongues but of prayer which is Spirit-led or directed.
Prayer is not to be given up lightly but persisted in.
While believers are urged to intercede for Paul it is not suggested that they pray for his release from prison.
Paul was also involved in the struggle. It isn't something that anyone of us is immune to.
Paul prayer request is not one for the loosing of his chains or for the opening of a door before him to continue his mission work. It is instead a prayer request that though imprisoned he may still continue the struggle. Paul does not bemoan his fater in being a prisoner but seeks to continue his preaching.
Believers have been supplied with supernatural armour which is to be worn with prayer and alertness.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Spiritual Warfare Research: Piper
John Piper:
Quotes from the article:
Satan's work - he works in the hearts of the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2); he blinds unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and plants them throughout the world (Matthew 13:39); he deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9); he does signs and wonders to lead astray if possible even the elect (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Matthew 24:24); he holds people captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:25ff, Luke 11:21ff); he takes the word away when it is sown (Matthew 13:4, 19); he gives out authority to the world rulers (Luke 4:6; Revelation 13:2); he uses people to hinder others (Acts 13:10); he thwarts mission plans (1 Thessalonians 2:18) and he throws ministers in prison (Revelation 2:10).
Story:
For example, one report from Lausanne II said that in the fall of 1984 a group of pastors and leaders from the San Nicolas/Rosario area of Argentina gathered to discuss and pray about spiritual warfare. The gathering was prompted by the realization that 109 towns within 100 miles of their training center had no Christian witness. They did some preliminary studies and discovered that the town of Arroyo Seco appeared to be the seat of satanic activity in the region.
Years before, a well-known warlock (sorcerer) by the name of Mr. Meregildo operated out of that town. He was so famous and his cures so dramatic that people would trek to Arroyo Seco from overseas for his services. Before he died, he evidently passed his powers on to 12 disciples. Three times a church was established in Arroyo Seco and three times it closed down in the face of severe spiritual opposition.
After several days of Bible study and prayer, the pastors and leaders came together in one accord and placed the entire area under spiritual authority. A few of them traveled to Arroyo Seco. Positioning themselves across the street from the headquarters of Mr. Meregildo's followers, they served an eviction notice on the forces of evil. They announced to them that they were defeated and that Jesus Christ would attract many to himself now that the church was united and had pledged to proclaim him. Less than three years later, 82 of those towns had evangelical churches in them. An unverified report indicates that as of today, all of them have a church or a Christian witness.
Territorial spirits? Daniel 10:
Consequences for our ministry:
SERMON: Piper and prayer:
God who could with none blink of an eye dispatch Satan and all of hordes, instead of doing that employs human agents to fight and win victories in spiritual warfare. Why? Don't know other than we will give more glory to him and we will experience more enjoyment.
10 - be strong: not our strength, it isn't about recruiting big he-men and she-women. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Ironically, you get the strength by putting on armour. When it comes near and your get in on you, you get strength.
11 - stand is repeated three of four times. All the while your standing you've got a chance to win. Standing in a fight is important. Boxing, you go down, you lose. Stand and withstand. The Devil has schemes: 'methodias', he has methods for everyone. He has a white middle-class book, a white british, a rich, a poor. He has a book of strategies for everyone.
12- Our struggle isn't against flesh and blood: John 18 'my kingdom is not of this world.' The kingdom of Jesus doesn't advance with the sword. It's a spiritual issue. A demonic, angelic evil power that is to be fought here with this armour. How do you fight the devil? Not something weird. How can I protect my children from the devil etc. it is very truth oriented.
14 - stand firm therefore with truth. True, correct like an arrow that flies straight.
Breastplate of righteousness. 'give yourselves as insturments to the Lord' is probably the sense of what this verse is saying. Do right things. The devil is in the business of causing you to do wrong things. Frustrate him by doing right things.
15 - shoes are important. Readiness. Maintaining a spirit of readiness in your life, pushes back satan and his schemes.
16 - in addition to all.... shield. Faith. Particular promises tailor made for the crisis of our lives.
17 - sword of spirit - Jesus in the wilderness. Quote the Bible back to the Devil.
Praying with all prayer and petition. All kinds of praying, at all times and all kinds of prayers. Paul knew he was dependant on prayer for boldness. Even the apostle Paul struggled with a need for boldness.
There's not a person who's ever lived whose not struggled with timidity.
Quotes from the article:
Satan's work - he works in the hearts of the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2); he blinds unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and plants them throughout the world (Matthew 13:39); he deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9); he does signs and wonders to lead astray if possible even the elect (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Matthew 24:24); he holds people captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:25ff, Luke 11:21ff); he takes the word away when it is sown (Matthew 13:4, 19); he gives out authority to the world rulers (Luke 4:6; Revelation 13:2); he uses people to hinder others (Acts 13:10); he thwarts mission plans (1 Thessalonians 2:18) and he throws ministers in prison (Revelation 2:10).
Story:
For example, one report from Lausanne II said that in the fall of 1984 a group of pastors and leaders from the San Nicolas/Rosario area of Argentina gathered to discuss and pray about spiritual warfare. The gathering was prompted by the realization that 109 towns within 100 miles of their training center had no Christian witness. They did some preliminary studies and discovered that the town of Arroyo Seco appeared to be the seat of satanic activity in the region.
Years before, a well-known warlock (sorcerer) by the name of Mr. Meregildo operated out of that town. He was so famous and his cures so dramatic that people would trek to Arroyo Seco from overseas for his services. Before he died, he evidently passed his powers on to 12 disciples. Three times a church was established in Arroyo Seco and three times it closed down in the face of severe spiritual opposition.
After several days of Bible study and prayer, the pastors and leaders came together in one accord and placed the entire area under spiritual authority. A few of them traveled to Arroyo Seco. Positioning themselves across the street from the headquarters of Mr. Meregildo's followers, they served an eviction notice on the forces of evil. They announced to them that they were defeated and that Jesus Christ would attract many to himself now that the church was united and had pledged to proclaim him. Less than three years later, 82 of those towns had evangelical churches in them. An unverified report indicates that as of today, all of them have a church or a Christian witness.
Territorial spirits? Daniel 10:
the passage of Scripture that points most clearly to the possibility that some demonic powers oversee territories is Daniel 10. Daniel set himself to pray and fast for three weeks. At the end of the time an angel appeared to him and said that God had heard his prayer from the first day he began to humble himself and pray (v. 12). The reason he had taken three weeks to come, said the angel, was this: "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and came to make you understand what is to befall your people" (vv. 13-14).
Consequences for our ministry:
. 1) Take the Supernatural Seriously:
Take the supernatural seriously and realize that we are in a warfare that cannot and should not be domesticated by reinterpreting everything in the biblical worldview so that it fits nicely with secular, naturalistic ways of thinking about the world. Be ready for the extraordinary as well as the ordinary ways that evil spirits work. Don't be presumptuous, as though demons were weak; and don't be anxious, as though they were stronger than Jesus.
2) Daniel's prayer wasn't about angels:
But the point is this: Daniel's praying was not about angels. And probably ours shouldn't be either. We should wrestle in prayer and fasting for the things that we know are God's will in our lives and our families and our church and our city and our world. But by and large we should probably leave it to God how he will use angels to get his work done. If God shows us more, we will use it. But the essence of the matter is not knowing the spirits but knowing God and praying in the power of Holy Spirit.
SERMON: Piper and prayer:
God who could with none blink of an eye dispatch Satan and all of hordes, instead of doing that employs human agents to fight and win victories in spiritual warfare. Why? Don't know other than we will give more glory to him and we will experience more enjoyment.
10 - be strong: not our strength, it isn't about recruiting big he-men and she-women. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Ironically, you get the strength by putting on armour. When it comes near and your get in on you, you get strength.
11 - stand is repeated three of four times. All the while your standing you've got a chance to win. Standing in a fight is important. Boxing, you go down, you lose. Stand and withstand. The Devil has schemes: 'methodias', he has methods for everyone. He has a white middle-class book, a white british, a rich, a poor. He has a book of strategies for everyone.
12- Our struggle isn't against flesh and blood: John 18 'my kingdom is not of this world.' The kingdom of Jesus doesn't advance with the sword. It's a spiritual issue. A demonic, angelic evil power that is to be fought here with this armour. How do you fight the devil? Not something weird. How can I protect my children from the devil etc. it is very truth oriented.
14 - stand firm therefore with truth. True, correct like an arrow that flies straight.
Breastplate of righteousness. 'give yourselves as insturments to the Lord' is probably the sense of what this verse is saying. Do right things. The devil is in the business of causing you to do wrong things. Frustrate him by doing right things.
15 - shoes are important. Readiness. Maintaining a spirit of readiness in your life, pushes back satan and his schemes.
16 - in addition to all.... shield. Faith. Particular promises tailor made for the crisis of our lives.
17 - sword of spirit - Jesus in the wilderness. Quote the Bible back to the Devil.
Praying with all prayer and petition. All kinds of praying, at all times and all kinds of prayers. Paul knew he was dependant on prayer for boldness. Even the apostle Paul struggled with a need for boldness.
There's not a person who's ever lived whose not struggled with timidity.
Friday, 16 September 2011
There is a God: Flew
Time Magazine in April of 1980 wrote
Katharine Tait (Bertrand Russell's daughter) writes in 'My Father, Bertrand Russell':
She goes on to say:
In a poignant passage, Russell once said:
The excesses and atrocities of organized religion have no bearing whatsoever on the existence of God, just as the threat of nuclear proliferation has no bearing on the question of whether E=mc2
Socrates in the Republic is quoted by Plato as saying
"In a quiet revolution in thought and argument that hardly anyone would have foreseen only two decades ago, God is making a comeback. Most intriguingly this is happening... in the crisp intellectual circles of academic philosophers."
Katharine Tait (Bertrand Russell's daughter) writes in 'My Father, Bertrand Russell':
"I would have liked to convince my father that I had found what he had been looking for, the ineffable something he had longed for all his life. I would have liked to persuade him that the search for God does not have to be vain. But it was hopeless. He had known too many blind Christians, bleak moralists who sucked the joy from life and persecuted their opponents; he would never have been able to see the truth they were hiding."
She goes on to say:
"My father's whole life was a search for God... Somewhere at the back of my father's mind, at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that had once been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it. He had the ghost like feeling of not belonging, of having no home in this world."
In a poignant passage, Russell once said:
"Nothing can penetrate the loneliness of the human heart except the highest intensity of the sort of love the religious teachers have preached."
The excesses and atrocities of organized religion have no bearing whatsoever on the existence of God, just as the threat of nuclear proliferation has no bearing on the question of whether E=mc2
Socrates in the Republic is quoted by Plato as saying
'We must follow the argument wherever it may lead.'
Friday, 9 September 2011
Why God Won't Go Away: quotes from New Atheists
The Economist which had been 'so confident of the Almighty's demise that we published his obituary in our milliennium issue', rather inconveniently found itself bliged to issue a correction in 2007. Religion is back in public life and public debate.
the term New Atheism was invented in 2006
Michael Shermer, executive director of Skeptics Society affirms that religion has been implicated in some dreadful human tragedies 'however for every one of these grand tragedies there are ten thousand acts of personal kindness and social good that go unreported... Religion, like all social institutions of such historical depth and cultural impact, cannot be reduced to an unambiguous good or evil.'
If evolution is indeed a random process how can we speak of 'accidental' or 'inintended' outcomes?
Sam Harris:
The first chapter of Sam Harris' book makes clear that he dislikes certain forms of religion intensely, sadly what follows it reveal that he doesnt really know very much about them. And by the end of the book you have to wonder if the plausibility of his argument depends largely on his readers sharing his abhorrence and lack of understanding.
He says 'some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.'
-McGrath 'The Inquisition, the Gestapo, the Taliban and the KGB could not have put it better.'
Richard Dawkins:
Four days after the 9/11 attackes dawkins wrote: 'To fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Don't be surprised if they're used.'
'Faith is blind trust, in the abscence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence.'
Religion is a 'brilliantly successful virus' that contiminates even the best minds. (called 'memes' by Dawkins)
-McGrath 'since there's no evidence for memes, does that mean there's a meme that causes us to believe in them?'
'A claim to knowledge needs to be substantiated; ignorance need only be confessed.'
Christopher Hitchens
The meta-narrative of Hitchens is essentially 'those who entertain religious belief are deluded and hence potentially dangerous to society at large.'
Jonathan Edwards died of Small Pox, such was his commitment to trying to use scientific methods to cure disease.
the term New Atheism was invented in 2006
Michael Shermer, executive director of Skeptics Society affirms that religion has been implicated in some dreadful human tragedies 'however for every one of these grand tragedies there are ten thousand acts of personal kindness and social good that go unreported... Religion, like all social institutions of such historical depth and cultural impact, cannot be reduced to an unambiguous good or evil.'
If evolution is indeed a random process how can we speak of 'accidental' or 'inintended' outcomes?
Sam Harris:
The first chapter of Sam Harris' book makes clear that he dislikes certain forms of religion intensely, sadly what follows it reveal that he doesnt really know very much about them. And by the end of the book you have to wonder if the plausibility of his argument depends largely on his readers sharing his abhorrence and lack of understanding.
He says 'some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.'
-McGrath 'The Inquisition, the Gestapo, the Taliban and the KGB could not have put it better.'
Richard Dawkins:
Four days after the 9/11 attackes dawkins wrote: 'To fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Don't be surprised if they're used.'
'Faith is blind trust, in the abscence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence.'
Religion is a 'brilliantly successful virus' that contiminates even the best minds. (called 'memes' by Dawkins)
-McGrath 'since there's no evidence for memes, does that mean there's a meme that causes us to believe in them?'
'A claim to knowledge needs to be substantiated; ignorance need only be confessed.'
Christopher Hitchens
The meta-narrative of Hitchens is essentially 'those who entertain religious belief are deluded and hence potentially dangerous to society at large.'
Jonathan Edwards died of Small Pox, such was his commitment to trying to use scientific methods to cure disease.
Friday, 17 June 2011
Schaeffer: The God who is there
'Only Christianity of all the world's religions has produced a real interest in man. Buddhism, Islam or Hinduism could never have produced idealistic communism because they do not have a sufficient interest in the individual.
Christianity is not romantic it is realistic
We should be pleased that the romanticism of yesterday has been destroyed. In many ways this makes our task of presenting Christianity to modern man easier than it was for our forefathers.
To fail that we we take truth seriously at those points where there is a cost in our doing so, is to push the next generation into the relative, dialectical millstream that surrounds us. (push the next generation into quagmire of relativity?)
We should not only have a concern and genuine compassion for the lost people among whom we live but also a concern for our God. We are his people, and if we get caught up in the other methodology, we have really blasphemed, discredited and dishonoured him - for the greatest antithesis of all is that God exists as opposed to his not existing; he the God who is there.
To say that God communicates truly does not mean that God communicates exhaustively.
The Dilemma of man:
Modern man is desperately struggling with the concept of man in his dilemma. Most of the paintings of the crucifixion today, (1968) Salvador Dali's for example, are not of Christ dying on the cross in history. They are using the Christ-symbol to exhibit man in agony.
Of course, it is possible to try not to get involved in man's dilemma; but the only way not to get involved in the dilemma of man is by being young enough, having money enough, and being egotistic enough to care nothing about other human beings.
Albert Camus' book 'The Plague'. The story is about a plague brought by rats into the city of Oran at the beginning of the second world war. Camus confronts the reader with a serious choice: either he must join the doctor and fight the plague, in which case, says Camus, he will then also be fighting God; or he can join with the priest and not fight the plague, and thus be antihumanitarian.
Men turn away in order not to bow before the God who is there. This is the scandal of the cross.
Modern theology uses the term 'guilt' but because it is not orientated in a true moral framework, it turns out to be no more than guilt-feelings.
There is an opposite danger: that the orthodox Christian will fail to realize that at times guilt-feelings are present when no true guilt exists. Let us remember that the Fall resulted in division not only between God and man, and man and man but between man and himself.
Christianity says that man is now abnormal - he is seperated from his Creator, who is his only sufficient reference point - not by a metaphysical limitation, but by true moral guilt.
God's answer to man's dilemma:
The standards of morality are determined by what conforms to his character, while those things which do not conform are immoral.
Nobody has ever discovered a way of having real 'morals' without a moral absolute. If there is no moral absolute, we are left with hedonsim (doing what I like) or some form of the social contract theory (what is best for society as a whole is right). However, neither or these alternatives corresponds to the moral motions that men have. Talk to people long enough and deeply enough, and you will find that they consider some things are really right and some things are really wrong.
A Christian can fight what is wrong in the world with compassion and know that he hates these things, God hates them too. God hates them to the high price of the death of Christ.
If it is true that evil is evil, that God hates it to the point of the cross, and that there is a moral law fixed in what God is in himself, then Christians should be the first in the field against what is wrong - including man's inhumanity to man.
Christianity is not romantic it is realistic
We should be pleased that the romanticism of yesterday has been destroyed. In many ways this makes our task of presenting Christianity to modern man easier than it was for our forefathers.
To fail that we we take truth seriously at those points where there is a cost in our doing so, is to push the next generation into the relative, dialectical millstream that surrounds us. (push the next generation into quagmire of relativity?)
We should not only have a concern and genuine compassion for the lost people among whom we live but also a concern for our God. We are his people, and if we get caught up in the other methodology, we have really blasphemed, discredited and dishonoured him - for the greatest antithesis of all is that God exists as opposed to his not existing; he the God who is there.
To say that God communicates truly does not mean that God communicates exhaustively.
The Dilemma of man:
Modern man is desperately struggling with the concept of man in his dilemma. Most of the paintings of the crucifixion today, (1968) Salvador Dali's for example, are not of Christ dying on the cross in history. They are using the Christ-symbol to exhibit man in agony.
Of course, it is possible to try not to get involved in man's dilemma; but the only way not to get involved in the dilemma of man is by being young enough, having money enough, and being egotistic enough to care nothing about other human beings.
Albert Camus' book 'The Plague'. The story is about a plague brought by rats into the city of Oran at the beginning of the second world war. Camus confronts the reader with a serious choice: either he must join the doctor and fight the plague, in which case, says Camus, he will then also be fighting God; or he can join with the priest and not fight the plague, and thus be antihumanitarian.
Men turn away in order not to bow before the God who is there. This is the scandal of the cross.
Modern theology uses the term 'guilt' but because it is not orientated in a true moral framework, it turns out to be no more than guilt-feelings.
There is an opposite danger: that the orthodox Christian will fail to realize that at times guilt-feelings are present when no true guilt exists. Let us remember that the Fall resulted in division not only between God and man, and man and man but between man and himself.
Christianity says that man is now abnormal - he is seperated from his Creator, who is his only sufficient reference point - not by a metaphysical limitation, but by true moral guilt.
God's answer to man's dilemma:
The standards of morality are determined by what conforms to his character, while those things which do not conform are immoral.
Nobody has ever discovered a way of having real 'morals' without a moral absolute. If there is no moral absolute, we are left with hedonsim (doing what I like) or some form of the social contract theory (what is best for society as a whole is right). However, neither or these alternatives corresponds to the moral motions that men have. Talk to people long enough and deeply enough, and you will find that they consider some things are really right and some things are really wrong.
A Christian can fight what is wrong in the world with compassion and know that he hates these things, God hates them too. God hates them to the high price of the death of Christ.
If it is true that evil is evil, that God hates it to the point of the cross, and that there is a moral law fixed in what God is in himself, then Christians should be the first in the field against what is wrong - including man's inhumanity to man.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Euangelion: News or Advice?
Euangelion. (u-an-gell-eon)
It's the word the Bible writers' used to described the Christian message. It's a Greek word, they spoke Greek. It means 'Good news'.
Have you ever thought (or understood) that Christianity is essentially news. It isn't advice, it's a report of something that's happenned. Advice tells you 'do this and you'll be happier' or 'try this and you can be better.' ADVICE is offered and rejected, ADVICE can be taken or left, news is different. NEWS is static, NEWS reports, NEWS isn't concerned primarily with your response but with the facts of what's happened.
Here's some Bible quotes that back that up:
Peter talking to the crowd on Pentecost 'You handed him over to be crucified but on the third day God raised him to life.' NEWS
Paul tells his closest friend 'Christ Jesus died for sinner's of whom I'm the worst' NEWS
John tells the religious leaders 'There is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved' NEWS
Paul writes to a church 'Jesus defeated the powers of darkness and triumphed over them at the cross.' NEWS
NEWS, NEWS, NEWS... Our world is full of news. We have 24hr news channels, daily newspapers, news apps. on our phones and news bulletins on the radio.
Some pieces of news lasts for only a day (like the fact that George McCullen won first place in the school cake baking contest), some pieces lasts for a few weeks (like the suicide of a prominent politician), whilst some pieces of news dominates our papers for years (like the death of Princess Diana). It is BIG news this week that Osama Bin Laden is dead and we're told it'll change the world quite considerably. News plays a big part in our lives. Good news travels especially fast:
When Riley arrived in the world I delivered the news to my family and friends and my life has never been the same since. The event of his birth has set my life in a new direction. I have a new routine, a new priority and even a new name 'dad'.
The Christian piece of news that has been talked about throughout history, the world over is this:
The event of Jesus' resurrection is one of the most historically verifiable events of all time. The implications of that event are innumerable; life, the history of the world, the purpose of our lives have been set in an entirely new direction.
That's the difference that news can make.
The next time you're tempted to think that Christianity is basically about behaving well or living right or that the church exists to tell people what to do, stop and remember:
It's the word the Bible writers' used to described the Christian message. It's a Greek word, they spoke Greek. It means 'Good news'.
Have you ever thought (or understood) that Christianity is essentially news. It isn't advice, it's a report of something that's happenned. Advice tells you 'do this and you'll be happier' or 'try this and you can be better.' ADVICE is offered and rejected, ADVICE can be taken or left, news is different. NEWS is static, NEWS reports, NEWS isn't concerned primarily with your response but with the facts of what's happened.
Here's some Bible quotes that back that up:
Peter talking to the crowd on Pentecost 'You handed him over to be crucified but on the third day God raised him to life.' NEWS
Paul tells his closest friend 'Christ Jesus died for sinner's of whom I'm the worst' NEWS
John tells the religious leaders 'There is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved' NEWS
Paul writes to a church 'Jesus defeated the powers of darkness and triumphed over them at the cross.' NEWS
NEWS, NEWS, NEWS... Our world is full of news. We have 24hr news channels, daily newspapers, news apps. on our phones and news bulletins on the radio.
Some pieces of news lasts for only a day (like the fact that George McCullen won first place in the school cake baking contest), some pieces lasts for a few weeks (like the suicide of a prominent politician), whilst some pieces of news dominates our papers for years (like the death of Princess Diana). It is BIG news this week that Osama Bin Laden is dead and we're told it'll change the world quite considerably. News plays a big part in our lives. Good news travels especially fast:
'It's a boy!'
'She said yes!'
When Riley arrived in the world I delivered the news to my family and friends and my life has never been the same since. The event of his birth has set my life in a new direction. I have a new routine, a new priority and even a new name 'dad'.
The Christian piece of news that has been talked about throughout history, the world over is this:
'Jesus has beaten death, our shortcomings have been forgiven, God is offering friendship and new life to all who want it.'
The event of Jesus' resurrection is one of the most historically verifiable events of all time. The implications of that event are innumerable; life, the history of the world, the purpose of our lives have been set in an entirely new direction.
That's the difference that news can make.
The next time you're tempted to think that Christianity is basically about behaving well or living right or that the church exists to tell people what to do, stop and remember:
Christianity is good news, not good advice.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Do Hard Things: C3 Failure to Launch
Proverbs 20:29 'The glory of young men is their strength.'
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 'Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that won't last but we do it to get a crown that will.'
2005 Time magazine coined the term 'Kidults' to refer to adolescents in their mid to late twenties and beyond. These are full grown men and women who still live with their parents, who dress and talk and party like they did when they were in their teen years, hopping from job to job, date to date, having fun but seemingly going nowhere.
Diving boards have a sweet spot. Hit it and it will propel you into the pool effortlessley. The trouble is too many of us think we're sitting by the poolside relaxing, waiting until we reach some magic age that will propel us, waiting until something to change us. We are in fact on the diving board and our future is fast becoming our present.
J.C Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men 'Youth is the seed-time of full age, the molding season in the little space of human life, the turning-point in the history of man's mind.
It has been said of George Washington that he 'became the man he strove to be.' The trouble is that very few of us strive to be anything very much.
FIVE HARD THINGS:
1) Things that are outside your comfort zone.
2) Things that go beyond what is expected or required.
3) Things that are too big to accomplish alone.
4) Things that don't earn an immediate payoff.
5) Things that challenge the cultural norm.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 'Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that won't last but we do it to get a crown that will.'
2005 Time magazine coined the term 'Kidults' to refer to adolescents in their mid to late twenties and beyond. These are full grown men and women who still live with their parents, who dress and talk and party like they did when they were in their teen years, hopping from job to job, date to date, having fun but seemingly going nowhere.
Diving boards have a sweet spot. Hit it and it will propel you into the pool effortlessley. The trouble is too many of us think we're sitting by the poolside relaxing, waiting until we reach some magic age that will propel us, waiting until something to change us. We are in fact on the diving board and our future is fast becoming our present.
J.C Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men 'Youth is the seed-time of full age, the molding season in the little space of human life, the turning-point in the history of man's mind.
It has been said of George Washington that he 'became the man he strove to be.' The trouble is that very few of us strive to be anything very much.
FIVE HARD THINGS:
1) Things that are outside your comfort zone.
2) Things that go beyond what is expected or required.
3) Things that are too big to accomplish alone.
4) Things that don't earn an immediate payoff.
5) Things that challenge the cultural norm.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Psalm 66: Misc. comments
v1 God shall show himself to be the God not of Jews oly but of Gentiles also; these shall as well cry Christ as those 'Jesus'; these say 'Father' as those 'Abba'. And as there was great joy in Samaria when the gospel was there received so shall there be the like in all other parts of the earth. John Trapp
v3 Say something. There is more required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation, contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and their season; but this is more than that and mroe than admiration too; for all these may come to an end in ecstasies, and in stupidities, and in useless and frivolous imaginations. John Donne.
Psalm 66: Thanking God for yesterday, today and tomorrow
yesterday - 5-7
Today - 8-9
Future - 4
v3 Say something. There is more required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation, contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and their season; but this is more than that and mroe than admiration too; for all these may come to an end in ecstasies, and in stupidities, and in useless and frivolous imaginations. John Donne.
Psalm 66: Thanking God for yesterday, today and tomorrow
yesterday - 5-7
Today - 8-9
Future - 4
Psalm 66: Spurgeon
v1 the languages of the lands are many, but their praises should be one, addressed to one only God.
v2 to honour God should be our subject, and to honour him our object when we sing. To give glory to God is but to restore to him his own.
Heart worship and spiritual joy render praise more glorious than vestments, incense, and music could do.
v3 Until we see God in Christ, the terrible predominates in all our apprehensions of him.
Power brings a man to his knee, but love alone wins his heart.
v4 Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious Lord, but it is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge of his name or character.
...expected by the writer of this psalm; and indeed, throughout all Old Testmanet writings, there are intimations of the future general spread of the worship of God.
Perverted Judasim may be exclusive, but the religion of Moses and David and Isaiah was not so.
v5 such glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all time a voice sounds forth concerning them 'come and see.'
..this same God liveth and is to be worshipped with trembling reverence.
v6 it is to be remarked that Israel's joy was in her God and there let ours be. It is not so much what he has done, as what he is, that should excite in us a sacred rejoicing.
v7 he has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat. The prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished: the divine dominion endures throughout eternity.
After a survey of the Red Sea and Jordan, rebels, if they were in their senses, would have no more stomach for the fight but would humble themselves at the Conqueror's feet.
v9 at any time the preservation of life and especilly the soul's life is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials whici of themselves would crush our being.
v10 God has one son without sin but he never had a son without trial.
Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation.
v11 As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden bearer, so is every believer while he in in this foreign land.
We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us.
v12 Many an heir of heaven has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it shall be.
v13 The child of God is so sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace that he feels that he must utter a song of his own.
v15 he who is miserly with God is a wretch indeed
In these three verses we have gratitude in action, not content with words, but proving its own sincerity by deeds of obedient sacrifice.
v16 Before they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing.
v17 Since the Lord's answers so frequently follow close at the heels of our petitions, and even overtake them, it becomes us to let our grateful praises keep pace with our humbles prayers.
Those who are least fluent with their tongues are often the most eloquent with their hearts.
v18 If you refuse to hear God's commands, he will surely refuse to hear they prayers.
v2 to honour God should be our subject, and to honour him our object when we sing. To give glory to God is but to restore to him his own.
Heart worship and spiritual joy render praise more glorious than vestments, incense, and music could do.
v3 Until we see God in Christ, the terrible predominates in all our apprehensions of him.
Power brings a man to his knee, but love alone wins his heart.
v4 Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious Lord, but it is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge of his name or character.
...expected by the writer of this psalm; and indeed, throughout all Old Testmanet writings, there are intimations of the future general spread of the worship of God.
Perverted Judasim may be exclusive, but the religion of Moses and David and Isaiah was not so.
v5 such glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all time a voice sounds forth concerning them 'come and see.'
..this same God liveth and is to be worshipped with trembling reverence.
v6 it is to be remarked that Israel's joy was in her God and there let ours be. It is not so much what he has done, as what he is, that should excite in us a sacred rejoicing.
v7 he has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat. The prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished: the divine dominion endures throughout eternity.
After a survey of the Red Sea and Jordan, rebels, if they were in their senses, would have no more stomach for the fight but would humble themselves at the Conqueror's feet.
v9 at any time the preservation of life and especilly the soul's life is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials whici of themselves would crush our being.
v10 God has one son without sin but he never had a son without trial.
Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation.
v11 As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden bearer, so is every believer while he in in this foreign land.
We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us.
v12 Many an heir of heaven has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it shall be.
v13 The child of God is so sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace that he feels that he must utter a song of his own.
v15 he who is miserly with God is a wretch indeed
In these three verses we have gratitude in action, not content with words, but proving its own sincerity by deeds of obedient sacrifice.
v16 Before they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing.
v17 Since the Lord's answers so frequently follow close at the heels of our petitions, and even overtake them, it becomes us to let our grateful praises keep pace with our humbles prayers.
Those who are least fluent with their tongues are often the most eloquent with their hearts.
v18 If you refuse to hear God's commands, he will surely refuse to hear they prayers.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
The Bible Jesus Read: Psalms
The Psalms:
The book of Psalms comprises a sampling of spiritual journals, much like personal letters to God.
I must read them as an over-the-shoulder reader since the intended audience was not other people, but God. Even the psalms intended for public use were designed as corporate prayers: from them too God represented the primary audience.
I had been trying to subconsciously fit the psalms into the scriptural grid established by the apostle Paul.
The psalms are however not pronouncements from on high delivered with full apostolic authority on matters of faith and practice. They are personal prayers in the form of poetry, written by a variety of people – peasants, kings, professional musicians, rank amateurs – in wildly fluctuating moods.
Job and Deuteronomy offer the extraordinary cases of two renowned, righteous men trying to relate to God through difficult times. Psalms gives examples of ‘ordinary’ people struggling mightily to align what they believe about God with what they actually experience. Sometimes the authors are vindictive, sometimes self-righteous, sometimes paranoid, sometimes petty.
The psalms are not so much representing God to the people as the people representing themselves to God.
Psalms do not theologize. One reason for this is that the psalms are poetry, and poetry’s function is not to explain but to offer images and stories that resonate with our lives.’ Kathleem Norris
Neal Plantiga on Psalm 91 (protection psalm) ‘Oh? What about Christians arrested by the Nazis in World War II, orr by hostile Muslim governments today? How must the psalm sound as they read it on the eve of execution? The psalms’ sweeping promises of safety seem patently untrue.
Plantiga ‘What Psalm 91 does is express one – one of the loveliest, one of the most reassured - but just one of the moods of faith. It’s a mood of exuberant confidence in the sheltering providence of God. Probably the psalmist has been protected by God in some dangerous incident, and he is celebrating. On other days and in other moods – in other darker seasons of his life – this same psalmist might have called to God out of despair and a sense of abandonment… you need another psalm or two to fill in the picture, to cry out that under those same wings bad things sometimes happen to good people.
I come to psalms not as a student wanting to acquire knowledge but rather as a fellow pilgrim wanting to acquire relationship.
The seemingly random ordering of the 150 psalms {is explained by} the seesaw cycle of intimacy and abandonment {that} most people experience in their relationship with God.
I have learned to appreciate psalms because it does encompass both points of view, often adjoined with no calming transition. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits,’ says psalm 103. The author of its nearest neighbour is desperately trying to recall God’s benefits, no easy task in his condition, bones burning like glowing embers, on a diet of ashes and tears.
It may seem strange for sacred writings to include such scenes of spiritual failure, but actually their inclusion reflects an important principle in therapy. A marriage therapist will often warn new clients, ‘your relationship may get worse before it gets better.’ Grudges and resentments that have been buried for years may resurface. Misunderstandings must be nakedly exposed before true understandings can begin to flourish. Indeed the psalms, like psychoanalysis, may help uncover neurotic elements in us.
The 150 psalms present a mosaic of spiritual therapy in process. Doubt, paranoia, giddiness, meanness, delight, hatred, joy, praise, vengefulness, betrayal – you can find it all in the psalms.
‘psalms of disorientation’ – Walter Bruggemann to describe the psalms that express confusion, confession and doubt.
They wrestled with God over every facet of their lives, and in the end it was the very act of wrestling that proved their faith.
Praise:
Somerset Maugham had a devout relative who went through the Book of common prayer and crossed out everything on praise. People are uncomfortable with compliments to their face, he reasoned, so surely God would not want them either.
We might best imagine praise by thinking of our instinctive response to a great work of art or a symphony or extraordinary beauty in any form. The natural response is, first, to pause and enjoy the surpassing beauty – almost knealing before it- and then to announce it to others.
Lament:
Eugene Peterson comments: 'only a minority focus on praise and thanksgiving; perhaps as many as seventy percent take the form of laments. These two categories correspond to the two large conditions in which we find ourselves: distress and well-being.'
King David specifically ordered that his people be taught how to lament (2 Sam. 1:18)
Dan Allender, Christian counselor:
"To whom do you vocalize the most intense, irrational - meaning inchoate, inarticulate - anger? Would you do so with someone who could fire you or cast you out of a cherished position or relationship? Not likely. You don't trust them - you don't believe they would endure the depths of your disappointment, confusion... The person who hears your lament and far mroe bears your lament against them, paradoxically, is someone you deeply, wildly trust... The language of lament is oddly the shadow side of faith."
Cursing:
The cursing psalms are best understood as prayers... Seen this way they demonstrate what i have called 'spiritual therapy'.
Dorothy Sayer remarks: We all have diabolical thoughts, but there's a world of difference in responding with words instead of deeds, whether, say, we write a murder mystery or commit murder.
What would be gossip when addressed to anyone else is petition when addressed to God.
The book of Psalms comprises a sampling of spiritual journals, much like personal letters to God.
I must read them as an over-the-shoulder reader since the intended audience was not other people, but God. Even the psalms intended for public use were designed as corporate prayers: from them too God represented the primary audience.
I had been trying to subconsciously fit the psalms into the scriptural grid established by the apostle Paul.
The psalms are however not pronouncements from on high delivered with full apostolic authority on matters of faith and practice. They are personal prayers in the form of poetry, written by a variety of people – peasants, kings, professional musicians, rank amateurs – in wildly fluctuating moods.
Job and Deuteronomy offer the extraordinary cases of two renowned, righteous men trying to relate to God through difficult times. Psalms gives examples of ‘ordinary’ people struggling mightily to align what they believe about God with what they actually experience. Sometimes the authors are vindictive, sometimes self-righteous, sometimes paranoid, sometimes petty.
The psalms are not so much representing God to the people as the people representing themselves to God.
Psalms do not theologize. One reason for this is that the psalms are poetry, and poetry’s function is not to explain but to offer images and stories that resonate with our lives.’ Kathleem Norris
Neal Plantiga on Psalm 91 (protection psalm) ‘Oh? What about Christians arrested by the Nazis in World War II, orr by hostile Muslim governments today? How must the psalm sound as they read it on the eve of execution? The psalms’ sweeping promises of safety seem patently untrue.
Plantiga ‘What Psalm 91 does is express one – one of the loveliest, one of the most reassured - but just one of the moods of faith. It’s a mood of exuberant confidence in the sheltering providence of God. Probably the psalmist has been protected by God in some dangerous incident, and he is celebrating. On other days and in other moods – in other darker seasons of his life – this same psalmist might have called to God out of despair and a sense of abandonment… you need another psalm or two to fill in the picture, to cry out that under those same wings bad things sometimes happen to good people.
I come to psalms not as a student wanting to acquire knowledge but rather as a fellow pilgrim wanting to acquire relationship.
The seemingly random ordering of the 150 psalms {is explained by} the seesaw cycle of intimacy and abandonment {that} most people experience in their relationship with God.
I have learned to appreciate psalms because it does encompass both points of view, often adjoined with no calming transition. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits,’ says psalm 103. The author of its nearest neighbour is desperately trying to recall God’s benefits, no easy task in his condition, bones burning like glowing embers, on a diet of ashes and tears.
It may seem strange for sacred writings to include such scenes of spiritual failure, but actually their inclusion reflects an important principle in therapy. A marriage therapist will often warn new clients, ‘your relationship may get worse before it gets better.’ Grudges and resentments that have been buried for years may resurface. Misunderstandings must be nakedly exposed before true understandings can begin to flourish. Indeed the psalms, like psychoanalysis, may help uncover neurotic elements in us.
The 150 psalms present a mosaic of spiritual therapy in process. Doubt, paranoia, giddiness, meanness, delight, hatred, joy, praise, vengefulness, betrayal – you can find it all in the psalms.
‘psalms of disorientation’ – Walter Bruggemann to describe the psalms that express confusion, confession and doubt.
They wrestled with God over every facet of their lives, and in the end it was the very act of wrestling that proved their faith.
Praise:
Somerset Maugham had a devout relative who went through the Book of common prayer and crossed out everything on praise. People are uncomfortable with compliments to their face, he reasoned, so surely God would not want them either.
We might best imagine praise by thinking of our instinctive response to a great work of art or a symphony or extraordinary beauty in any form. The natural response is, first, to pause and enjoy the surpassing beauty – almost knealing before it- and then to announce it to others.
Lament:
Eugene Peterson comments: 'only a minority focus on praise and thanksgiving; perhaps as many as seventy percent take the form of laments. These two categories correspond to the two large conditions in which we find ourselves: distress and well-being.'
King David specifically ordered that his people be taught how to lament (2 Sam. 1:18)
Dan Allender, Christian counselor:
"To whom do you vocalize the most intense, irrational - meaning inchoate, inarticulate - anger? Would you do so with someone who could fire you or cast you out of a cherished position or relationship? Not likely. You don't trust them - you don't believe they would endure the depths of your disappointment, confusion... The person who hears your lament and far mroe bears your lament against them, paradoxically, is someone you deeply, wildly trust... The language of lament is oddly the shadow side of faith."
Cursing:
The cursing psalms are best understood as prayers... Seen this way they demonstrate what i have called 'spiritual therapy'.
Dorothy Sayer remarks: We all have diabolical thoughts, but there's a world of difference in responding with words instead of deeds, whether, say, we write a murder mystery or commit murder.
What would be gossip when addressed to anyone else is petition when addressed to God.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Is God An Egomaniac?
Notice, from the very beginning, God is seen as a giving God with no explanation as to why. I flip the pages of Scripture as if reading it for the first time and ask “Why is he doing all of this for man?” Adam was given life. God gave Adam the earth to rule over. He gave him the animals. If that weren’t enough, He then gave him Eve. Even when they rebelled, God initiated a plan to give man redemption. He gave them children and began to work through the line of one of them so that He could eventually redeem man who did not deserve to be redeemed. He gave Abraham a promise that He would be a father of many nations and that through him he would give the world a great blessing. When the fullness of time came, He gave His own Son over to a terrible death for man.
I am sorry, but I do not find an egotistical God whose sole unqualified purpose in creation is self-glorification. It is just not there, but maybe I have missed something.
...Is it egotistical for the ocean to roar. Is it egotistical for the sun to shine so bright. Is it egotistical for romantic love to make our hearts drop? Is it egotistical for chocolate to make our mouth water? Is it egotistical for the expanse of the universe to cause us to stand in awe? Is it egotistical for sex to feel good? Is it egotistical for music to effect our emotions? Is it egotistical for the sky to be blue? Yes, all of these are attributes of impersonal things. But they all call out for recognition nonetheless. This recognition brings fulfillment to us, not to the things themselves. When we see a personal God who not only created all these things that beacon us to joyful recognition but is also the very embodiment of them calling on us to glorify him, he is doing nothing else but what is expected from a loving God. He is calling us to recognize him and his beauty. In doing so, we experience the greatest pleasure existence has to offer. His call for us to recognize him is nothing other than a call for our own ultimate fulfillment.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Do Hard Things: C1
Rebelution: 'a teenage rebellion against low expectations.'
Tug of war between a hundred men and an elephant, the elephant wins every time.
Elephant handlers however only use a piece of string tied to a tree as a way of keeping the elephant under control. Despite the elephants huge potential of strength and power it is shackled in its mind, thinking that it is under the control of the handler. Are we elephants? Have we, people with incredible potential in God, become shackled by the myth of adolescence?
Definition of a teenager. someone who has a myspace page and is more likely to take a photo on their phone than on a camera. However at one time teenagers didn't exist...
The first documented use of the word teenager was in 1941 in a copy of Reader's Digest.
Historian Friedrich Heer:
'Around 1800 young people of both sexes could reckon on being considered adults as soon as the outward signs of puberty made their appearance. Girls attained marriageable age at fifteen... Boys could join the Prussian army as office cadets at the age of fifteen. Among the upper classes entry to university or to a profession was possible at the age of fifteen or sixteen. The school leaving age, and consequently the end of childhood, was raised during the nineteenth century to fourteen.'
George, David and Clara examples of people given responsibility at a young age p31-32.
adolescence literally means - 'to grow up.' Not a problem but...
'The modern understanding of adolescence literally allows, encourages, and even trains young people to remain childish for much longer than necessary. It holds us back from what we could do, from what God made us to do, and even from what we would want to do it we got out from under society's low expectations.
America In So Many Words:
'In the first part of the twentieth century, we made a startling discovery. There were teenagers among us! Until then, we had though of people in just two stages: children and adults. And while childhood might have its tender moments, the goal of the child was to grow up as promptly as possible in order to enjoy the opportunities and shoulder the responsibilities of an adult.'
Entire industries - movie, music, fashion, fast food - and countless online services revolve around the consumer habits of, you guessed it, teens.
With all this money and attention focused on teens, the teen years are viewed as some sort of vacation. Society doesn't expect much of anything from young people during their teen years - except trouble. And it certainly doesn't expect competence, maturity, or productivity. The saddest part is that, as the culture around them has come to expect less and less , young people have dropped to meet those lower expectations. Since most of us have grown up surrounded by these low expectations, meeting them is like breathing to us - we never give it a thought. And we never realize what we've lost.
As one education expert put it, "Our current ceiling for students is really much closer to where the floor ought to be." p36
Twelve year old David was expected to successfully return a ship, its captain, and its crew to the United States. We are expected to return our pillows, sheets, and blankets to their proper place on the bed. David succeeded. Did you this morning?
Studies have been done on the power of EXPECTATIONS:
Teachers were given two classes of randomly divided students. However, the teachers were told that one class was made up of the best and brightest students at the school and that the other class was made up of the slower to average students. With that, the teachers began to teach. And guess what happened?
All of the teachers' interactions with the students were tainted by their expectations. When the teachers worked with a student in the 'bright' class, they persisted with the student until he or she found the answer. But when a student in the 'slow' class didn't find the answer right away, the teachers moved on to another student. When a student in the bright class struggled, the teachers brushed it off saying that the student was just having an 'off day.' But when the students in the slow class struggled, it was just because they were slow.
Henry Ford, , founder of Ford Motor Company 'Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.'
Isn't it ironice that many teenagers, though fluent in multiple computer languages (we're considered trendsetters and early adopters), are not expected to understand or care about things like personal finances, politics, or our faith? We're not even expected to be capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation with an adult. p41
1 Corinthians 14:20 'Brother, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." Our culture says 'Be mature in evil, but in your thinking and behaviour be childish.'p43
Tug of war between a hundred men and an elephant, the elephant wins every time.
Elephant handlers however only use a piece of string tied to a tree as a way of keeping the elephant under control. Despite the elephants huge potential of strength and power it is shackled in its mind, thinking that it is under the control of the handler. Are we elephants? Have we, people with incredible potential in God, become shackled by the myth of adolescence?
Definition of a teenager. someone who has a myspace page and is more likely to take a photo on their phone than on a camera. However at one time teenagers didn't exist...
The first documented use of the word teenager was in 1941 in a copy of Reader's Digest.
Historian Friedrich Heer:
'Around 1800 young people of both sexes could reckon on being considered adults as soon as the outward signs of puberty made their appearance. Girls attained marriageable age at fifteen... Boys could join the Prussian army as office cadets at the age of fifteen. Among the upper classes entry to university or to a profession was possible at the age of fifteen or sixteen. The school leaving age, and consequently the end of childhood, was raised during the nineteenth century to fourteen.'
George, David and Clara examples of people given responsibility at a young age p31-32.
adolescence literally means - 'to grow up.' Not a problem but...
'The modern understanding of adolescence literally allows, encourages, and even trains young people to remain childish for much longer than necessary. It holds us back from what we could do, from what God made us to do, and even from what we would want to do it we got out from under society's low expectations.
America In So Many Words:
'In the first part of the twentieth century, we made a startling discovery. There were teenagers among us! Until then, we had though of people in just two stages: children and adults. And while childhood might have its tender moments, the goal of the child was to grow up as promptly as possible in order to enjoy the opportunities and shoulder the responsibilities of an adult.'
Entire industries - movie, music, fashion, fast food - and countless online services revolve around the consumer habits of, you guessed it, teens.
With all this money and attention focused on teens, the teen years are viewed as some sort of vacation. Society doesn't expect much of anything from young people during their teen years - except trouble. And it certainly doesn't expect competence, maturity, or productivity. The saddest part is that, as the culture around them has come to expect less and less , young people have dropped to meet those lower expectations. Since most of us have grown up surrounded by these low expectations, meeting them is like breathing to us - we never give it a thought. And we never realize what we've lost.
As one education expert put it, "Our current ceiling for students is really much closer to where the floor ought to be." p36
Twelve year old David was expected to successfully return a ship, its captain, and its crew to the United States. We are expected to return our pillows, sheets, and blankets to their proper place on the bed. David succeeded. Did you this morning?
Studies have been done on the power of EXPECTATIONS:
Teachers were given two classes of randomly divided students. However, the teachers were told that one class was made up of the best and brightest students at the school and that the other class was made up of the slower to average students. With that, the teachers began to teach. And guess what happened?
All of the teachers' interactions with the students were tainted by their expectations. When the teachers worked with a student in the 'bright' class, they persisted with the student until he or she found the answer. But when a student in the 'slow' class didn't find the answer right away, the teachers moved on to another student. When a student in the bright class struggled, the teachers brushed it off saying that the student was just having an 'off day.' But when the students in the slow class struggled, it was just because they were slow.
Henry Ford, , founder of Ford Motor Company 'Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.'
Isn't it ironice that many teenagers, though fluent in multiple computer languages (we're considered trendsetters and early adopters), are not expected to understand or care about things like personal finances, politics, or our faith? We're not even expected to be capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation with an adult. p41
1 Corinthians 14:20 'Brother, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." Our culture says 'Be mature in evil, but in your thinking and behaviour be childish.'p43
Surprised by Hope: C16
There is almost nothing about 'going to heaven when you die' in the whole New Testament. Being citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20) doesn't mean you're supposed to end up there. Many of the Philippians were Roman citizens, but Rome didn't want them back when they retired. Their job was to bring Roman culture to Philippi.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Give to the Winds Thy Fears
Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts they tears,
God shall lift up thy head.
Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears they way;
Wait thou his time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.
Far, far above they thought,
His counsel shall appear,
When fully he the work hath wrought,
That caused thy needless fear.
Leave to his sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,
How wise, how strong this hand.
Paul Gerhardt 1656
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts they tears,
God shall lift up thy head.
Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears they way;
Wait thou his time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.
Far, far above they thought,
His counsel shall appear,
When fully he the work hath wrought,
That caused thy needless fear.
Leave to his sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,
How wise, how strong this hand.
Paul Gerhardt 1656
When the Darkness Will Not Lift: C2
One of the reasons God loved David so much was that he cried so much. p35
In fact the darkest experience for the child of God is when his faith sinks out of his own sight. Not out of God's sight, but his. Yes, it is possible to be so overwhelmed with darkness that you do not know if you are a Christian - and yet still be one. p38
It follows from this that we should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experienced and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties. While have the light, let us cultivate distrust of the certainties of despair. p42-43
In fact the darkest experience for the child of God is when his faith sinks out of his own sight. Not out of God's sight, but his. Yes, it is possible to be so overwhelmed with darkness that you do not know if you are a Christian - and yet still be one. p38
It follows from this that we should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experienced and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties. While have the light, let us cultivate distrust of the certainties of despair. p42-43
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Surprised by Hope: C14
But with the resurrection there is a new way of telling the entire story. The resurrection isn't just a surprise happy ending for one person, but is the turning-point for everything else.
If Jesus had not been raised, Luke is saying, all you have is hopes raised once more and dashed once more.
If the messenger bringing vital news falls into the river and is then rescued, he isn't rescued for himself alone, but for the sake of those who are waiting in desperate hope for his life-giving message.
...the worldwide mission in which the nations are summoned to turn from their idolatry and find forgiveness of sins. And they are to do this, Luke implies, because in Jesus we see the true God in human form, the reality of which all idols are parodies, and the true forgiveness of sins through his cross, the reality before which all sacrifices are types and shadows.
The word through whom all things were made is now the Word through whom all things are remade.
Easter and Pentecost belong together. East commissions Jesus' follower for a task; Pentecost gives them the necessary equipment to accomplish it.
Jesus' resurrection summons us to difficult and dangerous missions on Earth.
Those who find the risen Jesus going to the roots of their rebellion, denial and sin, and offering them love and forgiveness, may well also find themselves sent off to be shepherds instead. Let those with ears listen.
There could not be a much clearer statement of intent; the kingdoms of the world are now claimed as the kingdom of Israel's God, and of his Messiah.
East was the beginning of God's new world, the long awaited new age, the resurrection of the dead.
Paul declares that the speculations and puzzles of pagan theology and philosophy could now all be put on a different footing, because the one true God had unvelied himself and his plan for the whole world by appointing a man to be judge of the whole world, and had certified this by raising him from the dead.
The difference between the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God lies exactly in this, that the kingdom of God comes through the death and resurrection of his son, not through naked displays of brute force or wealth.
And if we ask what on earth can possibly justify such an outrageous statement - that Jesus is already king of the world, even though Caesar seems to be, and death itself is still rampant - there can be only one answer: the resurrection.
We can, if we choose, screen out the heavenly dimension and live as flatlanders, materialists. If we do that we will be buying in to a system that will go bad, and will wither and die, because earth gets its vital life from heaven.
The Spirit, the sacraments and the scriptures are given so that the double life of Jesus, both heavenly and earthly, can become ours as well, already in the present.
Christian holiness consists not of trying has hard as we can to be good, but of learning to live in the new world created by Easter, the new world which we publicly entered in our baptism.
If Jesus had not been raised, Luke is saying, all you have is hopes raised once more and dashed once more.
If the messenger bringing vital news falls into the river and is then rescued, he isn't rescued for himself alone, but for the sake of those who are waiting in desperate hope for his life-giving message.
...the worldwide mission in which the nations are summoned to turn from their idolatry and find forgiveness of sins. And they are to do this, Luke implies, because in Jesus we see the true God in human form, the reality of which all idols are parodies, and the true forgiveness of sins through his cross, the reality before which all sacrifices are types and shadows.
The word through whom all things were made is now the Word through whom all things are remade.
Easter and Pentecost belong together. East commissions Jesus' follower for a task; Pentecost gives them the necessary equipment to accomplish it.
Jesus' resurrection summons us to difficult and dangerous missions on Earth.
Those who find the risen Jesus going to the roots of their rebellion, denial and sin, and offering them love and forgiveness, may well also find themselves sent off to be shepherds instead. Let those with ears listen.
There could not be a much clearer statement of intent; the kingdoms of the world are now claimed as the kingdom of Israel's God, and of his Messiah.
East was the beginning of God's new world, the long awaited new age, the resurrection of the dead.
Paul declares that the speculations and puzzles of pagan theology and philosophy could now all be put on a different footing, because the one true God had unvelied himself and his plan for the whole world by appointing a man to be judge of the whole world, and had certified this by raising him from the dead.
The difference between the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God lies exactly in this, that the kingdom of God comes through the death and resurrection of his son, not through naked displays of brute force or wealth.
And if we ask what on earth can possibly justify such an outrageous statement - that Jesus is already king of the world, even though Caesar seems to be, and death itself is still rampant - there can be only one answer: the resurrection.
We can, if we choose, screen out the heavenly dimension and live as flatlanders, materialists. If we do that we will be buying in to a system that will go bad, and will wither and die, because earth gets its vital life from heaven.
The Spirit, the sacraments and the scriptures are given so that the double life of Jesus, both heavenly and earthly, can become ours as well, already in the present.
Christian holiness consists not of trying has hard as we can to be good, but of learning to live in the new world created by Easter, the new world which we publicly entered in our baptism.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Jewish wedding
Interestingly at the Messianic-Jewish wedding they always referred to God as 'The God of Israel' which is a helpful way of describing a bit more about who God is since the word 'God' means so much to so many people. I suppose we say 'Jesus' for this reason but I think Paul used the phrase 'The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'. Biblical theology is about how God reveals himself to people through the stories of scripture. God isn't a list of theological terms but a set of stories through which we learn how people approached him. That's why I suppose it's important to say 'the God of Israel', well that's one of the reasons I suppose.
Also they used the 'grafted in' analogy as a reminder to the gentiles present in the congregation that it was the Jewish people who were the original people of God. I find this interesting. Paul picks the image up and uses the phrase 'grafted in' but he does it to speak to gentile believers who may fall into the trap of pride and thinking that they are no. 1 since Israel messed it up. What the messianic Jews were doing today was using the metaphor as a way of boasting about their Jewish status. An interesting missing of the point and a falling back into the trap of pride and nationalism that Paul was so keen to speak out against. They would say that they do it to make a break from the negative associations with 'the church'. Paul however seems happy to say 'the dividing wall of hostility has been removed' we have to live with the negativity and move on. The way to break from past sins is to demonstrate a different type of church/people from anything anyone has experienced. Not by changing the wording and introducing new theological terms and a whole new jargon and language that makes some 'in' and some 'out' but by living differently and over time changing perspectives.
Also they used the 'grafted in' analogy as a reminder to the gentiles present in the congregation that it was the Jewish people who were the original people of God. I find this interesting. Paul picks the image up and uses the phrase 'grafted in' but he does it to speak to gentile believers who may fall into the trap of pride and thinking that they are no. 1 since Israel messed it up. What the messianic Jews were doing today was using the metaphor as a way of boasting about their Jewish status. An interesting missing of the point and a falling back into the trap of pride and nationalism that Paul was so keen to speak out against. They would say that they do it to make a break from the negative associations with 'the church'. Paul however seems happy to say 'the dividing wall of hostility has been removed' we have to live with the negativity and move on. The way to break from past sins is to demonstrate a different type of church/people from anything anyone has experienced. Not by changing the wording and introducing new theological terms and a whole new jargon and language that makes some 'in' and some 'out' but by living differently and over time changing perspectives.
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